/0. 2.^.2./, 
LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund. 


Division. 
Section... 


3  £  I  if 


MRS,  LUCY  G,  THURSTON, 

'Pioneer  Missionary  to  the.  Sandwich  Islands 


ocT?<ns 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  iiM 


OP 


Mrs.  Lucy  G,  Thurston, 


WIFE  OP 


Rev,  Asa  Thurston, 

Pioneer  Missionary  to  the  Sandwich  Islands, 

GATHERED  FROM  LETTERS  AND  JOURNALS 

EXTENDING  OVER  A  PERIOD  OF  MORE  THAN 
Selected  and  Arranged  by  Herself. 


S.  C.  ANDRFWS, 
BOOKSELLER  &  PUBLISHER, 

Asm  Arbor.  Mich. 


THIS   EFFORT 

IS 

RESPECTITTIjIT    DEDICATBB 

TO  THK 

American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions, 

WHO  HAVE  BEEN-  THE 

GUIDE  AID  LIFE  OF  IT  RIPER  YEARS,  AND  THE  NOUE- 
ISHER  OF  MY  OLD  AGE. 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


PREFACE 


It  was  more  than  thirty  years  ago  that  an  editor  applied  to 
me  for  an  Essay  to  put  into  his  Periodical  Pamphlet.  Subject: 
"Sketches  of  Missionary  Life  at  the  Sandwich  Islands," — 
'  '.Sketches  grave  and  gay,  showing  the  lights  and  shadows,  the 
ups  and  downs,  the  trials,  perplexities,  joys  and  sorrows  of  mis- 
sionary life."  He  wished  this  subject  handled  from  a  point 
that  came  within  the  special  range  of  the  observation  and  ex- 
perience of  the  ladies. 

Then,  in  the  earnest  strife  of  life,  I  failed  to  give  a  de- 
scription. Now,  in  the  repose  of  age,  I  spread  out  the  subject 
in  minute  detail. 

Of  my  writings  during  the  first  twenty-four  years  of  my 
life,  not  a  vestige  now  remains.  In  the  very  commencement  of 
missionary  life,  my  husband  strongly  advised  me  to  preserve  a 
copy  of  my  letters,  and  gave  me  a  blank  book  for  the  purpose. 
Thus  I  commenced,  and,  under  his  influence,  formed  a  habit  of 
so  doing.  I  have,  by  the  preserved  copies  of  my  letters,  noted 
in  their  circuit  all  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage. 

Now,  wrapped  in  the  folds  of  age,  of  widowhood,  of  soli- 
tude and  infirmities,  I  feel  the  great  importance  of  independent 
resources  of  happiness.  In  the  fear  of  God,  I  said,  ' '  What  wilt 
Thou  have  me  to  do?"  My  mind  turned  to  the  writings  which 
had  accumulated  beneath  my  hand.  My  physical  and  mental 
powers  are  equal  to  extracting  and  arranging  a  volume  from  the 
mass.  It  is  the  only  legacy  I  can  leave  my  children  and  grand- 
children, the  only  way  I  can  warn,  enlighten  and  cheer  the 
future  daughters  of  our  country  who  engage  in  the  missionary 
enterprise.  It  is  the  only  remaining  service  I  can  do  for  the 
public  by  whose  contributions  I  have  been  sustained  all  these 
years.  It  is  an  expression  of  thanks  to  the  great  and  good 
Father,  to  whom  all  is  due.  Offerings  to  Him,  He  accepts ;  but 
He  waves  them  into  channels  which  will  convey  blessings  to  His 
other  children. 


iv  PREFACE. 

In  the  silence  and  solitude  of  night,  with  my  study  lamp,  I 
took  the  writing  of  1819;  I  read  and  re-read  them.  Thus  en- 
gaged, I  was  lost  in  reverie.  I  was  young  again,  and  I  saw  my 
father's  family  surrounding  me,  so  loving  and  so  lovely.  Many, 
many  noble  friends  had  assembled  with  them.  All  happy  and 
exuberant.  I  too.  It  appeared  to  me  a  grand  jubilee.  So  real, 
so  near  they  all  seemed,  that  when  about  to  open  these  lips  to 
speak  to  them  in  an  easy  manner,  a  thrill  went  through  me. 
These  friends  have  all  outstripped  me  in  the  race.  They  have 
become  as  the  angels  of  light.  I  alone  am  left  in  the  wilderness, 
but  happy:  so  happy  that  it  was  long  that  night  before  I  could 
sleep. 

Thus  the  dim  eyes  of  1872  turned  back  and  fastened  upon 
the  vigor  and  bloom  of  1819.  First  driven,  then  drawn,  to  the 
work  of  life 's  supplement,  It  is  my  dying  bequest  to  the  living, 
when  I  shall  have  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  censure  and  ap- 
plause. Meantime,  while  alone,  walking  the  shady  vale,  prepar- 
ing its  pages,  I  shall  admit  to  my  bosom  the  solace,  that  she 
hath  done  tvhat  she  could. 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 

Nuuanu  Valley,  Nov.  8,  1872. 


INTRODUCTION   TO  SECOND  EDITION 

BY 
LORRIN  A.  THURSTON 

The  first  edition  of  the  life  of  Lucy  G.  Thurston  being 
out  of  print,  the  Woman 's  Board  of  Missions  for  the  Pacific 
Islands,  of  which  Mrs.  Thurston  was  a  member,  is  publish- 
ing a  reprint  as  an  appreciation  of  what  the  ' '  Fathers  and 
Mothers"  of  the  American  Mission  did  for  Hawaii,  and  as 
a  souvenir  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of 
the   association. 

What  it  meant  for  refined  and  educated  men  and 
women  to  leave  home,  family  and  friends  and  go  to  the 
"Sandwich  Islands"  in  1819  cannot  be  conceived  of  in 
these  days  of  advanced  conveniences,  luxuries,  and  rapid 
communication,  except  by  a  study  of  the  conditions  of  those 
times  and  a  knowledge  of  the  experiences  of  individuals. 

The  Pacific  was  at  that  time  "No  Man's  Land." 

There  was  no  organized  government  in  the  entire  great 
area. 

Not  an  American  Community  occupied  the  continent 
west  of"  the  Missouri  River. 

A  few  Spanish  friars  were  located  in  scattered  posts 
in  California,  where  Indians  roamed  unobstructed  from  San 
Diego  to  the  Arctic   Circle. 

Mexico  and  South  and  Central  America  were  still  Span- 
ish colonies  with  little  change  in  character  of  government 
and  people  from  the  days  of  Cortez  and  the   Aztecs. 

Australia  existed  only  as  the  home  of  an  aboriginal, 
uncivilized  race  and  of  an  English  convict  colony  at 
Botany  Bay  whence  enough  prisoners  had  escaped  to  intro- 
duce the  distilling  of  alcohol  into  Hawaii,  which  then 
and  thereafter  had  more  to  do  with  the  abnormal  death  rate 
among   the    natives   than    all   other   causes    combined. 

Japan  was  still  wrapped  in  seclusion,  scarce  heard  of 
even  by  name;  while  China  was  known  chiefly  as  a  market 
for  sandalwood,  used  largely  as  incense  to  burn  before  the 
josses,  and  as   a  source   of  tea  and  curios. 

There    were    no    passenger    ships,    no    defined    commerce 


b  INTRODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

and  no  regular  mail  communications.  Even  whale  ships  had 
not   yet   appeared   in   the   Pacific. 

It  was  still  the  day  of  the  "exploring  expeditions,"  of 
free  lance  adventurers  and  itinerant  and  occasional  traders, 
who  "wintered"  and  defied  God,  man  and  the  devil  in  the 
south  and  traded  for  furs  and  hides  in  summer  in  the  north. 

Travelers  took  their  chances  in  securing  passage  on 
these  chance  ships.  The  length  of  the  trip  direct  from  the 
United  States  was  about  five  months,  while  it  might  extend 
to  any  length  of  time  up  to  a  year.  A  "Christmas  box" 
sent  to  my  Grandmother  Andrews  wandered  about  the  Pa- 
cific for  10  years  before  reaching  its   destination. 

Mails  arrived  from  the  "States"  approximately  once  a 
year  and  it  took  a  year  and  over  to  send  a  letter  and  get 
a  reply. 

Of  written  language  there  was  none.  Teachers  of  the 
local  language  there  were  none.  The  missionaries  were 
obliged  to  first  learn  the  Hawaiian  language,  then  formu- 
late and  reduce  it  to  writing  and  then  translate  into  it  the 
scriptures,  school  books  and  all  other  book  knowledge  which 
the  natives  were  to  receive. 

They  had  to  build  their  own  houses,  prepare  their  own 
food,  make  their  own  clothes  and  furniture,  build  school 
houses  and  churches,  print  leaflets  and  books,  teach  the 
natives  how  to  read,  write,  print  and  sing.  They  had  to 
translate  the  Bible,  formulate  and  preach  sermons,  ad- 
minister to  the  sick  and  the  distressed,  seek  to  inculcate 
some  semblance  of  morality  and  comprehension  of  the  higher 
life.  The  missionaries'  wives,  besides  attending  to  domestic 
duties,  teaching  school,  holding  bible  classes,  had  to  teach 
the  women  how  to  sew  and  the  fundamentals  of  right  living, 
of  which  there  was  utter  ignorance.  All  this  was  done  in 
the  face  of  continuous  and  malignant  opposition  of  dissolute 
and  hostile  foreigners,  whose  licentiousness  and  exploitation 
of  the  natives  was  interfered  with  by  the  missionaries.  My 
mother  and  her  childhood  companions  used  as  playthings 
cannon  balls  which  were  fired  from  a  United  States  war 
ship  at  the  missionaries'  residence  at  Lahaina  because  the 
latter  had  influenced  the  chiefs  to  put  a  stop  to  the  cus- 
tomary practice  of  permitting  women  to  spend  the  night 
aboard    ship. 

For    all    this    a    missionary    and    his    wife    received    the 


INTRODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION  c 

munificent  salary  of  $400.00  a  year  and  boarded  himself 
and  family,  with  an  allowance  of  $50.00  a  year  for  each 
child. 

Lucy  Goodale  was  the  daughter  of  Abner  Goodale,  a 
substantial  farmer,  a  deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church, 
in  Marlboro,  Massachusetts.  Education  was  not  then  con- 
sidered a  necessity  for  women  and  opportunities  therefor 
were  limited,  but  she  was  a  graduate  of  Bradford  Academy, 
and  was  a  school  teacher  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  in 
October,  1819.  Her  husband,  Asa  Thurston,  of  Fitchburg, 
Massachusetts,  after  the  manner  of  the  times,  had  learned 
a  trade — that  of  a  scythemaker.  He  was  also  the  son  of  a 
substantial  citizen,  the  "Thurstons"  being  among  the  pio- 
neer settlers  of  Fitchburg.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  Col- 
lege  and   of   Andover   Theological   Seminary. 

The  trip  to  Hawaii  was  made  in  a  small  trading  vessel, 
about  the  size  of  one  of  the  smaller  Inter-Island  steamers 
of   today.     The   trip   took  five   months. 

Upon  arrival  it  was  learned  for  the  first  time  that 
the  Hawaiians  were  literally  "a  people  without  a 
religion" — a  condition  unique  in  history. 

Although  the  old  religion  had  been  abolished,  the  con- 
ditions under  which  it  had  thrived  still  existed,  and  the 
state  of  mind  which  could  comprehend,  much  less  appreciate 
and  desire,  a  life  of  freedom,  industry  and  civilization  had 
to  be  created. 

The  foregoing  were  some  of  the  problems  which  faced 
the  pioneer  missionaries  to  Hawaii.  Mrs.  Thurston's  remi- 
niscences throw  light  upon  the  conditions  then  existing, 
how  the  problems  were  met  and  some  of  the  results. 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON  CHRONOLOGICAL  DATA 

Born  Marlborough,   Mass.,  Oct.  29,   1795. 

Married  Rev.  Asa  Thurston,  Oct,   12,  1819. 

Arrived  Kailua,  Hawaii,  Mar.  30,  1820. 

Died   Honolulu,   Oct.   13,   1876, 
lacking   16   days   of  being   81  years   old. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii,  May  23,   1921. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 

Frontispiece,  the   only  illustration  in  the   first   edition. 

Page  14,     Brother   and    Sister   Bingham    and   Whitney. 

Page  30,     Kawaihae   Bay   in   1822. 

Page  46,     The   King's  Heiau  at  Kailua. 

Page  62,     Kaui'keaouli,    Kamehameha    III. 

Page  94,     The    Old    Thurston   Home   at   Kailua. 

Page  110,  Kaawaloa,    Kealakekua    Bay,    by    Miss    Thurston. 

Page  126,  Kailua  from   the   Sea,   by  Miss  Thurston. 

Page  142,  Kailua    Church,   built   in    1836. 

Page  158,  The    Old    Palace,    Honolulu,    in    1857. 

Page  174,  Kailua,   about   1836,   by  Miss   Thurston. 

Page  190,  Rev.   Asa   and   Lucy    Goodale   Thurston. 

Page  206,  ' '  Our   most    noble    Queen    Emma. ' ' 

Page  222,  Honolulu   Peddlers   as   late   as    1870. 

Page  238,  Mrs.    Persia    Goodale    (Thurston)    Taylor. 

Page  270,  Kawaiahao    Church,    Honolulu,    1857. 

Page  286,  Mrs.    Thurston   in   1873. 

The  facsimile  of  her  signature  is  taken  from  a  letter  dated  1849. 
The  wood-cut  is  from  "Northern  California,  Oregon  and  the  Sandwich 
Islands,"  by  Charles  Nordhoff,  who  makes  the  following  pertinent 
mention  of  Mrs.  Thurston:  "Of  the  first  band  who  came  out  from 
the  United  States,  the  only  one  living  in  1873  is  Mrs.  Lucy  G. 
Thurston,  a  bright,  active,  and  lively  old  lady  of  seventy-five  years, 
with  a  shrewd  wit  of  her  own.  She  drives  herself  to  church  on  Sun- 
days in  a  one-horse  chaise,  and  has  her  own  opinions  of  passing 
events.  How  she  has  lived  in  the  tropics  for  fifty  years  without 
losing  even  an  atom  of  the  New  England  look  puzzles  you ;  but  it 
shows  you  also  the  strength  which  these  people  brought  with  them, 
the  tenacity  with  which  they  clung  to  their  habits  of  dress  and  living 
and  thought,  the  remorseless  determination  which  they  imported,  with 
their  other  effects,  around  Cape  Horn.  Then  there  was  Dr.  Judd  .  .  . 
It  was  to  me  a  most  touching  sight  to  see,  on  a  Sunday  after  church, 
Mrs.  Thurston,  his  senior  by  many  years  but  still  alert  and  vigorous, 
taking  hold  of  his  hand  and  tenderly  helping  him  out  of  the  church 
and   to   his   carriage." 

Grateful  acknowledgment  for  many  courtesies,  includ- 
ing among  other  things  the  loan  of  engravings,  photographs 
and  cuts,  is  here  tendered  by  the  publishers  of  this  second 
edition  to  The  Advertiser  Publishing  Company,  The  Hono- 
lulu Star-Bulletin,  The  Hawaiian  Mission  Children's  Society, 
Mr.  Thomas  G.  Thrum,  The  Misses  Winne,  Miss  May  T. 
Kluegel,  Mr.  Lorrin  A.  Thurston,  Mr.  James  T.  Taylor,  The 
Misses  Wilcox,  Mr.  Albert  Waterhouse,  The  Bishop  Museum, 
The  Honolulu  Public  Library,  The  Friend,  and  The  Hawai- 
ian Board   of  Missions. 


CONTENTS 


FART  FIRST— 1819— 1840 

Missionary  and  Family  History.  Educating  Children  on 
Heathen  Ground  in  Pioneer  Life. 

1819. 

article  1.  Kamehameha  and  ' '  Obookiah. ' '  2.  Great  Loneli- 
ness. Desire  to  Learn  the  Will  of  the  Supreme.  3.  Invita- , 
tion  to  join  a  Missionary  Band,  and  its  Results.  Remarkable 
Conversion.  4.  A  Dream.  A  Marriage.  5.  Missionaries 
Met  at  Boston.  Organized  into  a  Church.  Received  Public 
Instructions.  6.  Parting  Address.  7.  Embarkation  and 
Voyage.  8.  Letter  from  a  Sister  to  Sisters.  Sorrow  for 
Separation  from  one  so  Dearly  Loved.  9.  Voyage  and 
Experiences.  Page  1 — 25. 

1820. 

article  10.  Hawaii  in  Sight.  11.  Destruction  of  Idolatry.  12. 
Second  Priest.  13.  Missionary  Movement  in  New  England. 
1-4.  First  Interview  with  Natives.  15.  Arrival  of  Principal 
Chiefs.  16.  Sewing  Circle.  17.  Kalanimoku.  18.  Anchored 
and  Went  Ashore.  19.  King  Dines  on  Board.  20.  Several 
Missionaries  go  ashore.  21.  King's  Position  and  Views. 
22.  Permitted  a  Residence  on  Shore.  23.  Two  Hawaiian 
Youth  and  Two  American  Missionaries.  24.  Table.  25.  De- 
velopment of  our  Associates.  26.  Feast  in  Honor  of  Kame- 
hameha I.  27.  Preaching  and  School.  28.  Native  Manners 
and  Customs,  and  Domestic  Privations.  29.  A  Royal  Feast. 
30.  Peculiar  Exhibition  that  Marked  the  Times.  31.  Life 
Alone,  No.  1.  32.  Life  Alone,  No.  2.  33.  Life  Alone,  No.  3. 
34.  Removal  from  Kailua  to  Maui.  35.  Stay  at  Maui.  36. 
Removal  from  Maui  to  Honolulu.  25 — 54. 


vi  CONTENTS. 

1821. 
article  37.  The  King,  the  Eussian  Commodore,  and  the  Mis- 
sionaries '  Public  Table.  38.  Permission  at  length  Obtained 
for  Erecting  the  First  Wooden  House  on  the  Islands. 
39.  Opposition  of  White  Men.  40.  The  Native  Orphan 
Babe.  41.  The  King's  Visit.  42.  Birth  of  Daughter. 
Cough.  43.  Sickness  and  Recovery.  The  Wooden  House 
Finished  and  Occupied.  Visited  by  the  Royal  Family.  Mar- 
riage in   High  Life.  54 — 64. 

1822. 

article  45.     First  Introduction  of  a  Written  Language.     46. 

The  American  Deacon.     47.  Interview  with  a  Sea  Captain. 

48.  First  Christian  Marriage.     49.  Mr.  Thurston — About  to 

Sail  with  the  King.     50.  One-eyed  Scholar.  64 — 72. 

1823. 
article  51.     Welcome  to  Mrs.  Bishop.     52.  Merchant  and  Mis- 
sionary Lady.     53.  Scenes  on  a  Native  Vessel.  54.  Trials  of 
Taking  a  new  Station.  72 — 78. 

1824. 
article  55.     Plan  for  Pioneer  Missionary 's  House  on  Hawaii. 
56.     Funeral  of  Hopu's  Father.     57.  Secluded  Life  of  the 
Ladies.     The  Sick  Woman.  78—82. 

1825. 
article  58.    Description  of  Kailua  and  our  New  Home.  59.  First 
Sabbath  School  at  Kailua.     60.  Kapulikoliko.  82—89. 

1826. 
article  61.     Female  Friday  Meeting  Commenced.  89 — 91. 

1828. 
article  62.     On  the  Death  of  My  Early  Associate,  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Edwards  Bishop.     63.  Death  of  a  Sister.  91—95. 

1829. 
article  64.    Progress  of  Work.  Success  of  Female  Friday  Meet- 
ing.    Pulukai.     65.  Mr.   Thurston's  Work.     Sending  away 
or  Retaining  Children  on  Heathen  Ground.  96 — 102. 


CONTENTS.  vii 

1830. 
article  66.    Mr.  Thurston 's  Duties  Public.   Mine  more  Private. 
Power  of  Word  of  God.    Eeligious  Experience  of  a  Native 
Neighbor.    Need  of  Bibles,  etc.  for  Foreigners.       103 — 105. 

1831. 
article  67.    Voyage  to  Lahaina.   Visit  and  Eeturn.      106 — 111. 

1832. 
article  68.     Letter  to  the  Second  Mrs.  Parkhurst.  Inability  to 
Labor   in   this   Climate.      Native   Neatness.      Care    of   the 
Churches.  111—115. 

1833. 
article   69.     Contrast  between   Life   at   Kailua   and   the   N.jw 
England  States.     Visit  from  Sea  Captain.     Missionaries  at 
the  Marquesas.  115 — 117. 

1834. 
article  70.     Care  of  Children.     Services  with  them  at  Home. 
Family  School.    Wooden  House.  117 — 124. 

1835. 
article  71.    Eeturn  Home  after  Visiting  Honolulu.    72.  Domes- 
tics in  Mission  Families.     73.  Eeference  to  a  Twin  Sister. 

124—132. 
1836. 
article  74.     A  Peep  at  Home  Life.     75.  Sabbath  School.     No 
Associates.     Maternal  Association.     Assistance  from  Chil- 
dren in  Missionary  Work.     Burning  of  Church.     132 — 135. 

1837. 
article  76.     Epistle  of  the  Thurstons  to  the  Honoluluans  Ask- 
ing Provision  for  a  Dwelling  Place  during  the  Visit  of  the 
Family  at  Honolulu  during  the  General  Meeting.     77.  Take 
Care  of  Your  Health.  135—137. 

1839. 
article  78.  Trip  to  the  Next  Station.  Civilized  Entertainment 
by  a  Sandwich  Islander.  79.  To  the  General  Meeting  of 
Sandwich  Island  Mission,  Asking  Permission  to  Visit  the 
United  States.  80.  After  Eeturn  from  Honolulu.  Varieties 
of  Human  Life.    French  Invasion.  137 — 144. 


viii  CONTENTS. 

1840. 
article  81.    Preparation  for  Voyage,  etc.     82.  Request  that  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Andrews  Eemain  Mr.  Thurston's  Associates  dur- 
ing my  Absence.     83.  Our  Children.  144 — 184. 


FART  SECOND— 1841— 1869 

Death  op  Two  Children  and  Two  Grand  Children.     Last 
Days  of  Father  Thurston. 

1841. 

article  1.     Departure  from  the  Sandwich  Islands.     Arrival  in 
New     York.     Sickness    of    Family.      Death    of    Daughter. 

149—151 
1842. 
article  2.    Advice  to  a  Daughter  at  Mt.  Holyoke  Female  Semi- 
nary.    3.  To  Absent  Children.    Return  Home.    4.  To  a  Mis- 
sionary Sister.     5.  To  Mrs.  M.  M.  Cummings.        161—158. 

1845. 
article  6\     A  Meeting  of  Confession  and  Thanksgiving.       159. 

1850-2. 
article  7.    Poisoned  by  Strychnine.    8.  A  Farewell  Note  before 
a  Voyage  to  the   United  States.    Written   on   the  Voyage 
back  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  160 — 168. 

1855-9. 
article  10.    A  Surgical  Operation.    11.  Death  of  Asa  G.  Thurs- 
ton. 168—178. 

1866-9. 
article  12.     Death  of  Two  Grand  Children.     13.  Last  Days  of 
Father  Thurston.     14.  A  Cypress  Bough.     15.  Funeral  Ad- 
dress by  Rev.  Mr.  Corwin.     16.  To  Rev.  Mr.  Bissel,  Pastor 
of  the  Fort  Street  Church,  Honolulu.  178—196. 


•      CONTENTS.  ix 

FART  THIRD— 1870 

Hawaiian  Jubilee.    Beminiscences  for  the  Occasion. 

article  1.  Extracts  from  Letters  Explaining  Origin  of  these 
Articles,  etc.  2.  Notice  of  First  Public  Beading.  3.  Pre- 
amble. 4.  National  Mourning  for  Kamehameha,  and  the 
Distinguished  and  Honored  Foreign  Eesident.  5.  Infan- 
ticide. 6.  The  Five  Daughters.  7.  The  Wife  of  the  Tahi- 
tian  Missionary.  S.  Missionary  Children  in  Pioneer  Life. 
9.  Kuakini  or  Gov.  Adams.  10.  Naihe.  11.  Kaahumanu.  12. 
Kamehameha  I.  The  Blacksmith  and  His  Daughter.  13.  A 
First  Native  Prayer  Meeting.  14.  A  First  Case  of  Church 
Discipline.  15.  Thatched  Houses.  16.  My  Horseback  Bide. 
17.  Pulmonary  Disease.  Complete  Deliverance  from.  18. 
Hawaii.  19.  Blind  Bartimeus.  20.  Items,  Showing  What 
Instrumentalities  Have  Been  Employed  in  Building  up  this 
Nation.  21.  A  Bare  Entertainment.  22.  Home.  23.  The 
Voyage  of  Voyages.  197 — 271. 


PART  FOURTH— 1871— 1876 

Extracts    from    Letters.      Conclusion. 
1871-2. 
article  1.     Thanksgiving  Dinner.   2.  Grandmothers'  Tea  Party. 
3.  Battle  Fields  of  Life.    Life  Alone.  272—279. 

1874. 
article  4.  Letter  to  Mrs.  Persis  G.  Taylor.  5.  Death  of  a 
Grandson.  6.  Marriage  of  a  Granddaughter.  7.  To  Secre- 
tary of  the  Mission  Children  's  Society.  8.  Advice  on  Enter- 
ing Married  Life.  9.  Blessed  Path  that  Leads  to  a  Blessed 
Death.      10.    Death    of    a    Grandchild    Five    Months    Old. 

279—294. 

1875-6. 

article  11.    Spring  Succeeds  Winter.    12.  To  the  Beaders  of  the 

Preceding  Pages.     13.  Memorial  Discourse.     14.  Mrs.  Lucy 

G.  Thurston.  295—308. 

2 


1876. 

Mrs.  Lucy  G.  Thurston. 

By   Rev.    D.   Dole. 

To  the  spirit  world  departed, 
Nobly  has  the  race  been  run ; 

Not  in  sorrow,  heavy  hearted. 
Grieve  we  that  the  prize  is  won. 

Not  desponding,  not  in  sadness 
Bid  we  her  a  short  farewell ; 

But  we  rest  in  grateful  gladness 
That  her  work  is  done  so  well. 

'Mid  the  darkness  of  Kailua 
Long  she  shone,  a  heavenly  light; 

Guide — there  was  none  kinder,  truer, 
Leading  wanderers   to  the  right. 

Passed  in  cheerful  self-denial, 
Eighty  years  sped  swiftly  by, 

Then  commenced  the  grevious  trial, 
Gold  from  dross  to  purify. 

Long  in  weariness  she  waited, 

Suffering  waited,  longed  and  prayed, 
Prayed  with  fervor  unabated. 

Still  the  summons  was  delayed. 

0  'er  the  river  frequent  glances 

Sought  some  heavenly  glory  there, 

Glory,  which  the  soul  entrances. 
Glory,  which  the  ransomed  share. 

Came  at  length  the  welcome  message — 
' '  Cross  the  river,  waiting  one, ' ' 

'Twas  indeed  a  joyous  presage 
Of  a  triumph  nobly  won ; 

Won  through  grace,  in  Christ  believing, 
All  the  praise  to  him   belongs; 

From  his  fullness  still  receiving, 

Ne  'er  shall  cease  her  grateful  songs. 


FART  FIRST 


18191840.      MISSIONARY  AND  FAMILY  HISTORY.      EDUCATING 
CHILDREN  ON  HEATHEN  GROUND  IN  PIONEER   LIFE. 


1819. 

ARTICLE   I. 

Kamehamehat    and    "Obookiah." t 

HAWAII*  was  first  discovered  to  the  civilized 
World  in  1778.  In  the  same  year,  Kamehameha 
fought,  a  soldier,  under  his  uncle,  Kalaiopu,**  King  of 
several  districts  on  one  individual  island. 

In  the  year  1810,  all  the  islands  of  this  group  be- 
came one  united  kingdom,  under  Kamehameha.  In  the 
same  year,  in  America.  "Obookiah"  became  theoreti- 
cally the  first  Hawaiian  convert  to  Christianity. 

They  both  lived  after  this,  the  one  eight,  and  the 
other  nine  years.  Kamehameha  in  his  last  sickness, 
asked  about  the  white  man's  God.  But  in  the  language 
of  the  narrator,  "They  no  tell  him." 

"Obookiah"  died  young,  with  a  hope  full  of  im- 
mortality. His  prayers,  tears,  and  appeals  for  his  poor 
countrymen,  as  described  in  his  memoir,  did  more  for 

t    Kah-may'-hah-may'-hah. 

t    Properly    spelled   Opukahaia. 

*   Hah-wi'-e. 

**Kah-li-o'-pu. 


2  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

them  than  he  could  have  done  in  the  longest  life  of  the 
most  devoted  labors.  The  church  was  newly  aroused  to 
send  a  mission  to  those  who,  for  long  dismal  ages,  had 
been  enshrouded  in  all  the  darkness  of  nature. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Great  Loneliness  and  Desire  to  Learn  the  Will  of  the  Supreme. 
To   Mrs.  Persis  G.   Parkhurst,  Plainfield,   N.  H. 

Marlboro,  West  Parish,  Sept.  11,  1819. 

How  shall  I  address  my  own  dear  best  beloved 
sister?  Our  corresponding  ages,  pursuits,  sentiments, 
and  feelings,  caused  Persis  to  be  more  peculiarly  mine. 
We  commenced  and  traveled  together  the  journey  of 
life,  together  tasted  the  delights,  and  culled  the  flowers 
of  spring;  and  when,  by  reason  of  the  way,  our  hearts 
have  sunk  within  us,  we  have  set  down  together  and 
mingled  our  tears.  Ever  precious  will  be  the  recollec- 
tions of  those  days  and  years,  spent  beneath  a  father's 
roof, — never  to  be  forgotten  the  period,  when  by 
assuming  a  new  relation,  you  bade  farewell  to  the 
paternal  abode,  thereby  causing  our  future  pathways 
in  life  to  diverge.  Our  Mother — gone!  Persis — gone! 
Wonder  not  when  I  say,  that  the  depths  of  my  sorrows 
were  revived,  and  that  I  more  than  ever  felt  myself  an 
orphan.  The  dear  solitary  chamber  that  I  occupy 
witnessed  my  grief,  while  I  walked  it  from  side  to  side, 
or  watered  my  pillow  with  my  tears.  I  applied  to  the 
fountain  of  all  grace  and  consolation  for  support, 
sacredly  devoting  all  my  leisure  hours  to  the  study  of 
the  Will  of  the  Supreme.  Here  my  sorrows  were 
assuaged,  and  my  heart  comforted.  But  I  emphatically 
feel  that  earth  is  not  my  rest. 

Your  loving  Sister, 

Lucy  Goodale. 


ARTICLE  III. 

Invitation   to   Join    a    Missionary   Band,    and   its   Results.     Remarkable 
Conversion. 

Marlboro,  West  Parish,  Sept.  18,  Saturday. 

THREE  weeks  have  elapsed  since  the  departure  of 
my  sister  Persis.  Yesterday,  during  my  noontide 
intermission,  I  received,  at  my  boarding  house,  an  un- 
expected call  from  cousin  Wm.  Goodell.  He  gave  me 
information  that  a  Mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands 
was  to  sail  in  four  or  six  weeks,  dwelt  upon  it  with 
interest  and  feeling,  and  notwithstanding  his  efforts  to 
assume  his  usual  cheerfulness,  now  and  then  I  saw  the 
tear  start  in  his  eye.  His  conversation  and  appearance 
made  me  tremble.  At  length,  having  prepared  my 
mind,  the  proposition  was  made.  "Well  Lucy,  by  be- 
coming connected  with  a  missionary  now  an  entire 
stranger,  attach  herself  to  this  little  band  of  pilgrims, 
and  visit  the  far  distant  land  of  Obookiah  ?" 

Now  I  feel  the  need  of  guidance.  Oh,  that  Persis 
were  here !    Never  did  I  so  much  long  to  see  her. 

The  gentleman  proposed  as  the  companion  of  my 
life  is  Mr.  Thurston,  member  of  the  Senior  Class,  in 
Andover  Theological  Institution.  He  had  recently  be- 
come an  accepted  missionary  of  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  soon  to  sail  for 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  This  has  all  come  suddenly 
upon  him.  Now  that  he  knows  the  situation  he  is  called 
to  fill,  he  has  no  personal  knowledge  of  one  who  is  both 
willing  and  qualified  to  go  with  him  to  a  foreign  land. 
Some  of  his  classmates  were  admitted  to  his  private 
confidence.  One  of  them,  in  passing  back  and  forth, 
had  been  entertained  at  Dea.  Goodale's.  He  spoke  of  his 
daughter  Lucy,  as  being  fitted  for  such  a  position.     It 


4  Life  of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

proved  a  hinge  to  act  upon.  They  knew  that  Goodell 
of  the  Middle  Class  was  a  relative  of  the  family.  They 
admitted  him  into  their  counsel  to  speak  of  the  mis- 
sionary qualifications  of  Lucy  Goodale. 

Most  closely  and  seriously,  during-  the  last  year, 
he  has  pressed  the  subject  on  my  consideration,  of 
personally  engaging  in  the  missionary  enterprise.  In  his 
very  last  letter,  recently  received,  he  wrote  thus  : 

"When  I  say  I  hope  cousin  Lucy  will  be  of  the 
next  company  that  go  to  the  heathen,  instead  of  imput- 
ing it  to  any  desire  of  never  seeing  her  again,  she  will 
rather  think,  that  I  believe  her  to  adopt  from  the  heart 
the  favorite  language  of  Spencer, — 'Where  He  ap- 
points, I'll  go.'  " 

The  result  of  the  whole  matter  was,  that  Wm. 
Goodell  was  appointed  to  obtain  permission  for  a  per- 
sonal interview.  So  here  he  was,  delivering  his  mess- 
age; adding,  "Rebecca  said,  T  will  go.' ': 

What  could  I  say?  We  thoroughly  discussed  the 
subject,  after  which  I  gave  permission  for  a  visit.  Next 
week  on  Thursday  is  the  anticipated,  dreaded  interview 
of  final  decision.  Cousin  William  walked  with  me,  and, 
as  we  approached  the  school  house,  bade  me  good-bye. 
I  immediately  entered  the  school,  but  how  I  longed  to 
find  my  chamber,  that  I  might  give  vent  to  the  feelings 
of  an  almost  bursting  heart.  Last  night  I  could  neither 
eat,  nor  close  my  eyes  in  sleep. 

Sept.  2i,  Tuesday. — The  subject  has  been  to  my 
mind  utterly  overwhelming,  and  I  all  alone  during  this 
season  of  conflict.  Situated  six  miles  from  my  father's, 
I  have  no  confidential  friend  near  me  to  whom  I  can 
unfold  my  feelings. 

Wm.  Goodell  fully  informed  my  family  that  the 
waters  were  troubled.  During  the  week,  my  two  sisters 


1819.  5 

from  home,  Eliza  and  Meliscent,  called  on  and  com- 
forted me  with  their  sympathy  and  affection.  I  have 
received,  too,  communications  from  my  father.  But 
they  all  leave  me  to  myself,  to  act  agreeably  to  my  own 
judgment  and  inclination. 

Dear  to  my  heart  are  my  friends  and  country.  Yet, 
all  this  side  the  grave,  how  transient !  The  poor  heathen 
possess  immortal  natures,  and  are  perishing.  Who  will 
give  them  the  Bible,  and  tell  them  of  a  Savior  ?  Great 
as  must  be  the  sacrifices,  trials,  hardships,  and  dangers 
of  such  an  undertaking,  I  said,  "If  God  will  grant  His 
grace,  and  afford  an  acceptable  opportunity,  Lucy  and 
all  that  is  hers,  shall  be  given  to  the  noble  enterprise  of 
carrying  light  to  the  poor  benighted  countrymen  of 
Obookiah."  After  this  decision,  I  could  contemplate 
the  subject  with  a  tranquil  mind  and  unmoved  feelings. 

Home,  Sept.  22,  Wednesday. — This  afternoon  I 
returned  to  the  paternal  abode.  I  have,  with  the  most 
perfect  freedom,  conversed  with  my  family  here  on  the 
subject.  They  left  me  alone  to  breast  the  billow.  But, 
when  I  came  among  them  with  composure  and  serenity, 
buoyed  up  by  a  noble  purpose,  they  gave  me  their  full 
sympathy  and  approbation. 

Sept.  23,  Thursday. — The  close  of  this  day  brought 
our  expected  Andover  friends,  Wm.  Goodell  and  Mr. 
Thurston  to  our  door,  and  established  them  in  our 
parlor.  That  was  a  strictly  private  family  interview.  I 
returned  home,  and  alone  entered  the  house  the  night 
before.  Our  dwellings  was  completely  isolated  from 
neighbors,  and  not  a  word  had  been  dropped  of  ex- 
pected company. 

We  were  alone  in  our  little  world.  There  were  my 
father  and  my  two  brothers  and  their  wives,  all  be- 
longing to  the  house.  There,  too,  was  uncle  Wm. 
Goodell,  cousin  William's  own  father,  who  had  lived 


6  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

with  my  father  for  several  years,  and  who  was  in  sym- 
pathy and  confidences  as  one  of  us.  Wm.  Goodell  had 
now  accomplished  his  mission.  Under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances,  he  had  opened  the  way  and  brought 
Mr.  Thurston  to  Dea.  Goodale's,  brought  Lucy  to  her 
father's  house  to  interview  the  stranger  in  the  bosom  of 
her  own  family,  amid  a  band  of  six  close  confidential 
friends,  where  no  prying  eyes  or  ready  tongues  were 
admitted  to  give  intelligence  to  the  outside  world. 

The  early  hours  of  the  evening  were  devoted  to 
refreshments,  to  free  family  sociality,  to  singing,  and 
to  evening  worship.  Then  one  by  one  the  family  dis- 
persed, leaving  two  of  similar  aspirations,  introduced 
at  sunset  as  strangers,  to  separate  at  midnight  as  inter- 
ested friends. 

Sept.  24,  Friday. — In  the  forenoon,  the  sun  had 
risen  high  in  the  heavens,  when  it  looked  down  upon 
two  of  the  children  of  earth  giving  themselves  wholly 
to  their  heavenly  Father,  receiving  each  other  from  his 
hand  as  his  good  gift,  pledging  themselves  to  each  other 
as  close  companions  in  the  race  of  life,  consecrating 
themselves  and  their  all  to  a  life  work  among  the 
heathen. 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  that  decision,  that  there 
met  together  a  committee  of  Ways  and  Means.  The 
first  thing  to  be  fixed  upon  was  a  programme.  That  was 
Friday,  Sept.  24th.  Sept.  26th,  Oct.  3d  and  10th,  would 
furnish  three  Sabbaths  for  publication.  Then  the  11th 
was  Monday,  not  a  convenient  day,  but  the  12th,  Tues- 
day, was  fixed  upon  as  the  day  of  the  wedding,  and 
after  the  ceremony,  the  party  was  to  proceed  directly 
to  Boston.  According  to  this  programme,  letters  to 
friends  in  different  places  were  written,  and  directions 
given  to  the  town  clerk  in  Marlboro,  and  to  the  town 
clerk  in  Fitchburg,  Mr.  Thurston's  native  place.  It  was 
afternoon  before  letters  and  messengers  were  dis- 
patched. 


1819.  7 

Sept.  25,  Saturday. — The  very  next  morning  after 
the  decision,  Wm.  Goodell  and  Mr.  Thurston  started 
for  the  ordination  at  Goshen,  Conn.  I  rode  with  them 
six  miles,  as  they  passed  my  school,  in  order  to 
dismiss  it. 

Sept.  28,  Tuesday — The  candidates,  Bingham  and 
Thurston,  were  examined  at  Goshen.  Sept.  29,  Wed- 
nesday, they  were  ordained.  During  these  exercises  at 
Goshen,  Conn.,  brother  Nathan  and  myself  in  Mass., 
hastened  to  Boston  to  obtain  my  outfit.  Miss  Frances 
Irving  assisted  me  to  accomplish  my  business.  Nathan 
accompanied  us,  paid  bills,  and  carried  the  parcels.  Af- 
ter returning  to  Marlboro  with  all  this  abundance  of 
material,  we  made  a  long  table  across  the  middle  of  one 
of  the  front  rooms.  Lucy  Howe,  Susan  Witt  and 
Sophia  Rice,  three  friends,  came  and  cut  garments  by 
dozens  and  by  scores.  When  the  gentlemen  returned 
from  the  ordination,  Wm.  Goodell  was  an  untold  bless- 
ing to  me  in  his  activity  and  zeal  in  finding  persons  to 
make  some  of  the  cut  garments. 

Just  before  giving  the  parting  hand,  when  the  two 
gentlemen  passed  on  to  the  ordination,  Wm.  Goodell 
said  to  me:  "Now,  don't  regard  the  barking  of  little 
dogs." 

In  one  week,  a  cousin  and  his  wife  arrived  to  pass 
the  Sabbath  with  us.  His  father  was  a  clergyman,  but 
he  himself  was  an  Attorney  at  Law,  and  an  openly 
avowed,  active  infidel.  Had  he  set  his  artillery  in  mo- 
tion it  would  have  been  a  lion's  roar.  Mr.  Thurston, 
too,  spent  the  same  Sabbath  with  us,  and  preached  for 
Mr.  Bucklin,  our  minister.  At  intermission,  as  we  were 
returning  to  the  second  service,  Mrs.  Bucklin  re- 
marked :  "After  leaving  your  country,  you  will  never 
again  hear  the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell."  Our 
cousin  highly  commended  the  services  of  the  day,  and 


8  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

conversed  with  me  of  my  prospects  with  tender  encour- 
agement. When  he  retired  Saturday  night  he  took  my 
album  with  him  to  his  room,  and  returned  it  Monday 
morning.  Within  he  had  written  the  following  lines, 
containing  strange  sentiments  indeed  to  come  from 
his  pen : 

And    art    thou   called    to   visit    distant   lands. 
To   teach   the  heathen  God's   divine   commands? 
Then  go,  sweet  cousin,   cross  the  foaming  sea, 
Thy  God  will  bless  thee  whereso'er  ye  be. 

Soon  thou  wilt  see  Hawaii's  fertile  shore, 
And   settle   there   to   see  thine  own  no  more; 
There  build   thy   cottage  by  the  rising  flood, 
And   tell   the  natives   of   their   Savior,    God. 

His  life,  his  sufferings  be  thy  fruitful  theme, 
While    faith    and    hope    will    in    their    faces    gleam; 
Thy   social   hearth   will   flame  with  love   divine, 
And  all  will  bless  thy  steps  and  all  that's  thine. 

Oh,  may  He  fi'll  thy  soul  with  sov'reign  grace, 
And  bless  thy  partner  in  his  charge  and  place, 
Bless  all  his  labors,  bless  his  little  flock, 
And   bless    thy   children    from   our   G-oodall   stock. 

In   mem'ry's   fav'rite  hour  wilt  thou  remember  me; 
Full   oft   our  prayers   shall   ascend  for  thee: 
Long  shall  we  dwell  on  this  farewell  to  you, 
And  long  shall  mem'ry  linger  o'r  this  last  adieu. 

[Ten  years  after  this  I  received  a  parcel  of  black 
pepper,  done  up  in  a  newspaper,  from  our  Secular 
Agent.  The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  pour  the  pepper  into 
a  bowl,  and  search  the  paper  wrapper  for  intelligence. 
It  contained  the  following 

REMARKABLE   CONVERSION. 

"One  instance  of  divine  grace  exhibited  the  winter 
past  in  my  immediate  vicinity,  and  which  fell  under  my 
own  observation,  I  will,  with  permission,  relate.  The 
subject  of  this  change  was  an  Attorney  at  Law,  the  son 


1819.  9 

of  a  clergyman.  He  had  been  emphatically  the  son  of 
many  prayers,  and  his  childhood  had  been  endowed 
with  all  needful  moral  and  religious  instruction.  But 
as  he  grew  up  and  went  out  from  the  government  of  his 
father's  family,  he  apostatized  from  his  early  educa- 
tion, and  became  a  terror  to  those  who  would  do  well. 
At  this  time,  he  entered  into  an  agreement  with  a  bro- 
ther, by  which  they  were  mutually  bound,  that  the 
first  called  from  this  world  should  return  and  inform 
the  other  of  the  invisible  state,  if  permitted.  The  bro- 
ther, not  long  after  was  drowned  in  the  Connecticut, 
and  as  soon  as  this  survivor  received  the  intelligence, 
he  hastened  to  the  place  where  the  deep  and  dark  wave 
still  rolled  over  the  lifeless  body  of  his  brother,  and 
there  in  an  hour  of  retirement,  he  called  aloud,  and  the 
voice  echoed  from  bank  to  bank,  for  that  departed 
brother  to  fulfil  his  engagement,  but  there  was  no 
voice,  nor  any  that  answered.  And  he  relates  that  he 
repeated  the  same  over  his  brother's  grave,  after  the 
body  was  found.  He  remained  unshaken  in  his  infi- 
delity. Being  a  popular  advocate  in  his  profession,  he, 
in  a  few  years,  accumulated  a  large  estate,  but  he  had 
no  bowels  of  compassion,  no  breathings  of  benevolence. 
About  eighteen  months  ago,  his  father  desired  him  to 
carry  his  annual  contribution  to  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  which  he  did,  and  said  to 
the  Treasurer,  "I  bring  you  fifty  dollars  from  my 
father  to  aid  the  objects  of  this  Board,  but  I  would 
rather  throw  it  into  the  sea."  It  however  pleased 
God  the  last  season  to  take  from  him  a  beloved 
child  by  death,  and  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  did  he 
realize  that  this  world  is  shadowy  and  evanescent.  The 
impression  grew  upon  him,  and  he  soon  felt  that  all 
would  ere  long  be  taken  from  him,  and  nothing  remain 
but  the.  ghosts  and  penalties  of  millions  of  sins,  sins  of 
the  most  aggravating  kind.     He  strove  to  conceal  his 


10  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

distress,  but  strove  in  vain.  He,  at  length,  confessed 
his  condition,  and  sought  the  prayers  of  those  people, 
whom  he  had  so  lately  despised.  For  some  weeks  he 
bowed  like  the  rush,  and  his  mourning  was  like  the 
mourning  of  Hadadrimmon  in  the  valley  of  Megiddon. 
But  the  hour  of  release  came,  for  he  was  a  chosen  ves- 
sel unto  God.  He  bowed  to  Prince  Emmanuel.  He 
became  as  a  child,  and  openly  and  fearlessly  espoused 
the  cause  of  Him  whom  he  had  persecuted.  He  gave 
public  declaration,  that  if  he  had  defrauded  any  man 
in  the  course  of  his  business,  he  would  make  them 
amends  to  the  amount  of  fourfold.  At  this  time  he 
recalled  his  saying  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions.  He  could  not  rest  until  he  had  made 
a  written  confession  to  him.  In  that  letter  the  Treas- 
urer found  a  hundred  dollar  bank  note.  A  reformation 
succeeded  this  conversion,  which  spread  through  the 
town,  and  many  have  been  added  to  the  cause  of 
Christ." 

The  description  of  this  individual  so  answered  to 
the  cousin,  whose  lines  I  have  just  recorded,  up  to  the 
time  of  his  religious  convictions,  that  I  immediately 
wrote  and  asked  him  if  he  had  become  a  Christian.  In 
due  time  we  received  the  following  reply : 

January  24,  1820. 

Dear  and  Respected  Cousins: 

Years,  eventful  years,  have  rolled  away,  since  first 
we  met,  since  last  we  parted.  You  have  left  all  the  dear 
scenes  of  your  childhood  and  youth,  your  father's  land, 
and  gone  to  the  sea-girt  islands  where  all  is  compara- 
tively dark  and  dreary.  The  Indian  hut,  the  Indian 
manners,  the  savage  life  and  accommodations  surround 
you.  But  what  hath  God  wrought !  Did  I  say  all  was 
savage  about  you?     I  mistake.     The  Lamb  of  God  is 


1819.  11 

there,  and  has  taken  away  the  savage  heart,  the  heathen 
life,  the  untutored  Indian,  and  given  you  brothers  and 
sisters  dear  in  the  Lord.  O,  bless  His  great  and  excel- 
lent name,  all  ye  His  people,  all  ye  His  lands,  all  ye  His 
islands  of  the  sea! 

I  often  recur  to  that  hour  when  I  bade  you  fare- 
well. Like  Balaam,  I  wrote  blessings  on  your  head 
when  I  had  no  heart  to  bless.  I  looked  on  the  tents  of 
Israel.  I  saw  them  spreading  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
filling  all  the  plains  and  islands  with  a  happy  race, 
praising  the  Lord  our  God.  I  saw  you  building  your 
cottage  on  the  shores  of  Hawaii,  and  then  I  saw  tem- 
rles  rise  dedicated  to  the  living  God.  I  saw  the  natives 
hang  around  you,  and  like  children  receive  the  word  of 
eternal  life,  and  I  could  not  but  say, 

Then  go,   sweet  cousin,   cross  the  foaming  sea, 
And  God  go  with  you  wheresoe'er  you  be. 

Yet  I  was  a  very  infidel  at  heart,  and  how,  on  recurring 
to  what  I  wrote  in  that  album  of  yours,  I  could  write 
so,  I  know  not.  It  was  a  wonder  to  myself.  I,  who 
scoffed  at  the  Bible,  at  its  miracles,  its  revealed  contra- 
dictions and  absurdities,  as  I  then  thought,  how  could  I 
speak  of  your  teaching  that  Savior's  love,  whom  I 
thought  an  imposter?  But  so  it  was,  and  like  Balaam, 
when  I  would  have  cursed,  I  could  only  bless.  Now,  I 
thank  God,  I  trust  I  can  bless  Him  too  from  my  heart. 
I  do  believe  1  do  love,  as  I  humbly  trust,  that  dear 
Redeemer,  Avho  died  for  sinners,  who  tasted  death  for 
us  all.  The  white,  the  red,  and  the  black  man,  too, 
encircled  in  His  arm  of  love  and  mercy,  all  may  lie  on 
His  bosom,  like  the  beloved  John,  all  may  lean  on  His 
breast  and  live  forever.  O,  preach  Him,  proclaim  Him 
to  all  lands,  to  all  people,  blow  the  gospel  trumpet  over 
all  the  Islands,  an  angel  blast,  and  let  the  heathen  hear 
and  live. 


12  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

But  I  wander.  I  meant  to  speak  of  the  years  we 
have  been  separated.  The  same  kind  Providence  that 
has  always  blessed  the  ungrateful  has  ever  continued  to 
bless  me  and  mine  in  all  these  years.  Two  of  our  chil- 
dren sleep  side  by  side  under  the  green  turf  of  our 
graveyard.  They  were  lovely  boys,  both  born  in 
March.  Both  lived  until  August  of  their  second  year, 
and  then  drooped  their  heads  and  died.  We  could  not 
save  them,  nor  do  I  now  repine  their  loss.  I  trust  they 
are  happy.  We  had  been  insensible  of  all  God's  mer- 
cies, but  when  He  laid  his  hand  on  our  little  ones,  it 
brought  us  to  bless  His  holy  name.  May  praise  be  His 
forever. 

Your  father  and  my  father  have  also  gone  to  their 
last  home.  I  trust  they  are  now  perfect  in  Christ.  It 
was  good  to  hear  my  dear  father  express  his  earnest 
hope  and  belief  that  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  had  for- 
given all   his  sins.] 

ARTICLE  IV. 

A  Dream — A  Marriage. 
Mrs.  Persis  G.  Parkhurst  to  her  sister,  Mrs.   Lucy  G.  Thurston. 

On  the  night  of  the  23d  of  Sept.,  the  very  night  of 
your  first  introduction  to  Mr.  Thurston,  I  was  trans- 
ported in  a  dream  to  the  home  of  my  youth.  You  were 
not  there.  I  saw  the  house  surrounded  with  carriages. 
Within  was  a  large  collection  of  people,  many  of  whom 
were  strangers.  The  doors  seemed  opened  from  room 
to  room,  and  whichever  way  I  turned,  I  was  sur- 
rounded by  numbers,  some  walking  to  and  fro,  and 
others  standing  in  solemn  fixed  attention.  I  saw  noth- 
ing transacted,  heard  nothing  said,  but  thought  the 
occasion  was  your  wedding.  Though  never  in  the  habit 
of  thinking  much  of  dreams,  this  took  strong  hold  of 


1819.  13 

my  feelings.  It  cost  me  many  tears.  Every  succeeding 
clay  I  wept,  for  I  could  not  divest  myself  of  the  idea 
that  my  dream  referred  to  your  death. 

A  letter  from  home  was  put  into  my  hands.  It  was 
not  superscribed  by  you.  I  was  overwhelmed  with  an 
unden nable  dread  that  you  had  dropped  the  pen  for- 
ever. At  first  I  could  not  open  it.  At  length  I  sum- 
moned resolution  and  broke  the  seal.  I  read  the  lines 
traced  by  your  pen.  You  were  not  dead,  but  destined 
to  cross  the  ocean,  and  spend  your  days  in  a  foreign 
heathen  land. 

On  the  12th  of  Oct.  your  marriage  was  solemnized 
in  our  father's  home.  In  one  hour  after  the  rite,  you 
gave  your  parting  hand  to  all,  entered  the  carriage  at 
the  door,  with  your  new-found  husband,  and,  attended 
by  cousin  Wm.  Goodale,  parted  forever  from  the 
friends  and  scenes  of  your  youth.  When  the  sound  of 
the  carriage  wheels  ceased  to  be  heard,  I  looked,  and 
behold,  both  in  the  house  and  in  the  yard,  a  most  per- 
fect representation  of  my  dream. 

Your  loving  Sister, 

Persis  G.  Parkhurst. 
ARTICLE  V. 

The  Missionaries  met  at  Boston;   were  Organized  into  a   Church,   and 
Received  Public  Instructions. 

A  BRIG  was  about  to  sail  from  Boston  to  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  Previous  arrangements  had  been 
made,  and  a  voluntary  company  there  assembled,  whose 
language  to  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  was : 
''Here  we  are, — send  us."    There  were 

Two  Ordained  Preachers  and  Translators, — Mr. 
Bingham  and  Mr.  Thurston,  and  their  wives. 


14  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

A  Physician, — Dr.  Holman  and  wife. 

Two  Teachers, — Mr.  Whitney  and  Mr.  Ruggles, 
and  their  wives. 

A  Printer, — Mr.  Loomis  and  wife. 

A  Farmer, — Mr.  Chamberlain,  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren. 

Three  Converted  Native  Youths,  partially  edu- 
cated,— Thomas  Hopu,  John  Honolii  and  William 
Kanui. 

Oct.  17,  1819,  these  seventeen  individuals  were  or- 
ganized into  a  distinct  Missionary  Church,  to  be 
transplanted  to  the  Pagan  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  It 
took  place  in  the  vestry  of  Park  Street  Church,  Boston, 
beneath  the  auspices  of  the  Prudential  Committee  of 
the  American  Board,  among  whom,  Dr.  Worcester, 
first  Secretary,  and  Jeremiah  Evarts,  first  Treasurer, 
were  prominent. 

On  the  same  day  there  was  a  large  gathering  in 
the  body  of  the  church,  in  the  middle  of  which  that 
company  of  consecrated  ones  were  placed  to  receive 
the  public  instructions  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 
That  revered  father,  Dr.  Worcester,  was  their  organ. 
From  fifteen  printed  pages,  the  following  few  detached 
paragraphs  are  a  specimen  of  the  whole. 

"Dearly  Beloved  in  the  Lord : 

"You  are  now  on  the  point,  the  most  of  you,  of 
leaving  your  country,  and  your  kindred,  and  your  fath- 
ers' houses,  and  committing  yourselves,  under  Provi- 
dence, to  the  winds  and  the  waves,  for  conveyance  to 
far  distant  islands  of  the  sea,  there  to  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  your  days. 

"You  have  given  yourselves  to  Christ  for  the  high 
and  holy  service  of  missionary  work.  You  have  made 
your  vows  and  you  cannot  go  back.  If  it  be  not  so — 
and  if  this  point  be  not  fixed  with  you  immovably — 
stop  where  you  are,  nor  venture  to  set  foot  on  that 


BBOTHER  AND  SISTEE  BINGHAM 


BEOTHER  AND  SISTEE  WHITNEY 


1819.  15 

board,  which  is  to  bear  this  holy  mission  to  the  scene 
of  its  labors  and  trials,  and  eventual  triumphs. 

"Whatever  of  earthly  privations,  or  labors,  or  suf- 
ferings await  you,  they  are  comparatively  as  nothing. 
You  may  glory  in  them  all.  You  may  count  them  all 
joy.  Other  things,  dearly  beloved,  are  before  you.  Your 
mission  is  to  'a  land  of  darkness  as  darkness  itself ;  and 
of  the  shadow  of  death  without  any  order,  and  where 
the  light  is  as  darkness.' 

"You  will  find  Jesus  in  Hawaii,  as  you  have  found 
him  in  this  land,  a  sun  and  shield.  His  gracious  word, 
'Lo  I  am  with  you  always,'  was  sufficient  for  the  first 
missionaries  of  the  cross,  and  it  will  be  sufficient  for 
you,  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes  of  safety,  of  support, 
of  guidance,  of  consolation,  of  strength,  of  courage,  of 
success,  of  triumph,  and  of  glory.  Abide  fixedly  on 
this  word,  and  you  will  have  nothing  to  want,  nothing 
to  fear. 

"You  are  to  aim  at  nothing  short  of  covering  those 
Islands  with  fruitful  fields,  pleasant  dwellings,  schools, 
and  churches. 

"Mr.  Bingham  and  Mr.  Thurston,  *  *  *  * 
The  world  has  not  an  office  in  its  gift  which  is  not 
annihilated  when  compared  with  that  of  a  Christian 
missionary ;  not  a  crown  that  would  not  fade  into  utter 
obscurity  in  presence  of  that  of  Paul.  The  seraph  near- 
est the  celestial  throne  might  esteem  it  a  distinguished 
honor,  to  execute  in  a  manner  befitting  its  nature  and 
design,  the  trust  committed  to  you.  Be  not  high- 
minded,  but  fear.  You  are  but  earthen  vessels.  All 
vour  sufficiency  is  of  God,  and  the  whole  glory  will  be 
His. 

"To  you,  jointly,  is  committed  this  consecrated 
mission,  proceeding  from  the  bosom  of  Christian  and  of 
heavenly  love. 

"The  beloved  females  of  the  mission  are  not  to  be 
3 


16  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

forgotten.  There  is  no  law  of  heaven  for  excluding-  the 
sex  from  the  participation  for  which  the  same  sover- 
eign goodness  has  fitted  them,  in  the  toils  and  perils, 
the  joys  and  glories  of  recovering  the  common  race. 

"When  the  Son  of  God  was  on  his  mission,  wo- 
man,— many  women  testified  the  deepest  interest  in  it,. 
ministered  to  him  of  their  substance,  attended  him  in 
his  journeyings  and  labors,  and  even  followed  him 
when  his  disciples  forsook  him  and  fled,  and  earth  and 
heaven  were  in  dismay — followed  him  out  to  the  scene- 
of  crucifixion. 

"These  favored  daughters  of  Zion  then,  who,  with 
so  much  tender  cheerfulness,  have  given  themselves  to 
their  Savior  and  Lord  for  this  arduous  service,  are  not 
without  warrant  for  thus  leaving  the  world  to  its  own 
opinion  and  pursuits. 

"Beloved  members  of  the  mission,  male  and  fe- 
male, this  Christian  community  is  moved  for  you,  and 
for  your  enterprise.  The  offerings,  and  prayers,  and 
tears,  and  benedictions,  and  vows  of  the  churches  are 
before  the  throne  of  everlasting  mercy.  They  must  not 
be  violated ;  they  must  not,  can  not  be  lost.  But  how 
can  you  sustain  the  responsibility  ?  A  nation  to  be  en- 
lightened and  renovated,  and  added  to  the  civilized 
world,  and  to  the  kingdom  of  the  world's  Redeemer 
and  rightful  sovereign !  In  His  name  only,  and  by  His 
power,  can  the  enterprise  be  achieved." 

ARTICLE  VI. 

PARTING  ADDRESS. 

The  next  day  after  these  preparations,  from  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  New  England  States,  a  concourse  of 
the  friends  of  missions  assembled  at  a  farewell  meet-- 


1819.  17 

ing.     Mr.  Thurston,  one  of  the  number  about  to  em- 
bark, delivered  in  Park  Street  church. 

A    PARTING   ADDRESS. 
(An   Extract.) 

Permit  me,  my  dear  friends,  to  express  the  senti- 
ments and  feelings  of  this  missionary  company  on  the 
present  occasion.  We  would  express  our  gratitude  to 
the  Great  Head  of  the  Church,  for  the  provision  He  has 
made  for  the  souls  of  men,  and  for  the  evidence  which 
He  graciously  gives  us,  that  we  are  severally  interested 
in  this  great  salvation.  We  bless  God  that  we  live  in 
this  interesting  period  of  the  world — that  so  much  has 
been  done,  and  that  so  much  is  still  doing  to  extend  the 
blessings  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

The  present  is  emphatically  styled  a  day  of  action. 
The  Church  is  opening  her  eyes  on  the  miseries  of  a 
world  lying  in  wickedness.  Pier  compassion  is  moved, 
and  her  benevolence  excited  to  alleviate  human  suffer- 
ings, and  to  save  the  soul  from  death. 

We  have  felt  that  the  Savior  was  speaking  to  us, 
and  our  bosoms  have  panted  for  the  privilege  of  engag- 
ing in  the  blessed  work  of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 
We  have  voluntarily  devoted  ourselves  to  this  great 
object,  and  have  been  set  apart  to  go  forth  and  labor 
for  its  accomplishment.  Pi  a  few  days  we  expect  to 
leave  this  loved  land  of  our  nativity,  for  the  far  distant 
isles  of  the  sea,  there  to  plant  this  little  vine,  and 
nourish  it,  till  it  shall  extend  through  all  the  islands,  till 
it  shall  shoot  its  branches  across  to  the  American  coast, 
and  its  precious  fruit  shall  be  gathered  at  the  foot  of 
her  mountains. 


ARTICLE  VII. 

Embarkation   and   Voyage. 

OCTOBER  23,  1819,  we  embarked  from  Boston  on 
board  the  brig  Thaddeus,  Capt.  Blanchard.  We 
cut  loose  from  our  native  land  for  life,  to  find  a  dwel- 
ling place,  far,  far  away  from  civilized  man,  among 
barbarians,  there  to  cope  with  a  cruel  priesthood  of 
blood-loving  deities,  and  to  place  ourselves  under  the 
iron  law  of  kapus  requiring  men  and  women  to  eat 
separately-  To  break  that  law  was  death.  It  was  death 
for  woman  to  eat  of  various  kinds  of  food,  such  as 
pork,  bananas,  cocoa-nuts,  &c.  It  was  death  for  her  to 
enter  the  eating  house  of  her  husband.  The  choicest  of 
animal  and  vegetable  products  were  reserved  for  the 
male  child  ;  for  the  female,  the  poorest.  From  birth  to 
death,  a  female  child  was  allowed  no  food  that  had 
touched  her  father's  plate.  It  was  death  for  a  woman 
to  be  caught  looking  at  an  idol's  temple.  When  she 
passed  one,  she  was  required  to  turn  her  face  another 
way. 

Such  were  our  prospects  during  our  long  voyage 
of  more  than  five  months  across  the  ocean.  Our  only 
hope  and  trust  was  in  God. 

Although  we  set  our  faces  to  pass  beyond  the  pale 
of  civilization,  yet  the  animating  prospect  was  held  up 
before  us,  that  we  might  communicate  with  our  Ameri- 
can friends  once  a  year. 

The  whales  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  gold 
mines  of  California  were  then  unknown.  Intelligence 
of  the  arrival  of  our  mission  at  the  Islands,  reached  the 
United  States  seventeen  months  after  we  left  Boston. 


18 


ARTICLE  VIII. 

Letter  from  a   Sister  to   Sisters.      Sorrow  for   Separation   from  one  so 
Dearly   Loved. 

Mrs.  Persis   G.  Parkhurst  to  Mrs.  Eliza  and  Mrs.   Meliscent   Goodale. 

Dear  Sisters : 

The  season  has  again  returned,  which,  in  its  last 
revolution,  brought  with  it  such  scenes  of  sorrow,  con- 
nected with  our  mother's  death.  That  time  I  seem  to 
live  over  again.  Every  event  of  every  day  is  called  up 
afresh,  as  it  were  but  of  yesterday.  Nor  is  this  all.  The 
kindred  tie  has  again  been  severed  ;  another,  dear  to  me 
as  my  own  soul,  I  can  no  more  find  in  the  domestic 
abode,  no  more  behold  on  earth.  Never  perhaps  were 
sisters  more  tenderly  attached.  You  know  the  similari- 
ty of  taste,  of  sentiment,  and  of  feeling  which  existed 
between  us ;  of  our  habits  of  intimacy,  and  how  much 
we  loved.  It  is  needless  then  to  say,  that  the  separa- 
tion is  inexpressibly  painful.  Often  does  the  thought 
rush  upon  my  mind,  "Lucy  is  gone,  and  I  can  see  her 
face  no  more."  It  requires  all  my  philosophy,  and  all 
my  piety,  to  enable  me,  at  some  moments,  cheerfully  to 
acquiesce.  But  when  I  can  calmly  reflect  upon  the  sub- 
ject, I  do  indulge  better  feelings.  Yes,  I  can  then  re- 
joice, zvith  all  my  heart,  I  trust,  that  God  has  given  her 
opportunity  and  disposition  to  go  and  tell  the  perishing 
heathen  that  Jesus  died. 


19 


ARTICLE  IX. 

Voyage  and  Experiences. 
To  Dea.   Abner  Goodale  and  Family,    Marlboro,   Mass. 

Brig  Thaddeus,  Dec.  20,  1819. 
Dear  Father,   Brothers  and  Sisters: 

Soon  after  we  put  forth  to  sea,  ere  we  lost  sight  of 
the  American  shores,  sickness  obliged  me  to  repair  to 
my  couch.  To  this  I  was  confined  two  days  and  nights. 
The  rest  of  the  family  were  in  similar  circumstances. 
Chests,  trunks,  bundles,  bags,  &c,  were  piled  into  our 
little  room  six  feet  square,  until  no  place  was  left  on 
the  floor  for  the  sole  of  one's  foot.  Two-thirds  of  the 
way  they  were  built  up  considerably  higher  than  the 
berth,  and  for  a  space  they  extended  to  the  height  of 
the  room.  With  such  narrow  limits,  and  such  confined 
air,  it  might  well  be  compared  to  a  dungeon.  This  was 
with  me  a  gloomy  season,  in  which  I  felt  myself  a  pil- 
grim and  a  stranger.  The  third  day  the  whole  family 
met  on  deck.  Could  you  have  beheld  the  scene  exhibited, 
while  you  pitied,  you  must  have  smiled.  Beside  a  boat, 
hogsheads,  barrels,  tubs,  cables,  &c,  with  which  the 
deck  abounded,  there  were  to  be  seen  a  dog,  cats,  hens, 
ducks,  pigs,  and  men,  women  and  children.  Our  whole 
family,  with  the  exception  of  the  natives,  were  all  un- 
der the  horrors  of  seasickness,  some  thrown  on  their 
mattresses,  others  seated  in  clusters,  hanging  one  upon 
another,  while  here  and  there  individuals  leaned  on  the 
railing,  or  supported  themselves  by  hanging  upon  a 
rope.  When  the  hour  for  refreshment  arrived,  a  con- 
tainer of  soup  was  brought,  and  placed  on  deck.  A 
circle  gathered  around  it,  and  seated  themselves  like  a 

20 


1819.  21 

group  of  children.  Those  at  a  distance  were  not  neg- 
lected. Look  which  way  you  would,  and  all  were 
sipping  broth  or  picking  bones.  In  this  rude  manner  we 
were  obliged  to  eat  several  days.  We  had  entered  a 
new  school.  It  was  among  the  very  first  lessons  taught 
us,  that  all  ablutions,  of  whatever  kind,  must  invariably 
be  performed  with  salt  water.  Most  of  our  number 
soon  recovered,  when  we  were  introduced  to  a  well 
regulated  table. 

We  have  family  devotions  in  the  cabin  morning 
and  evening ;  Sabbath  forenoon,  a  religious  service  in 
the  cabin,  and  at  noon,  when  the  weather  allows,  public 
worship  on  deck.  The  monthly  concert  of  prayer  is 
observed.  The  interesting  situation  in  which  we  are 
placed,  separated  from  the  Christian  world,  and  en- 
gaged in  such  a  work,  renders  this  a  season  doubly 
precious  and  animating. 

In  concert  with  our  American  friends,  too,  we  ob- 
served Dec.  2nd,  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  to  God.  At 
no  time  have  I  thought  so  much  and  so  tenderly  of  my 
dear  relatives.  The  idea  that  I  could  no  more  make 
one  in  your  associated  circles,  produced  in  my  mind 
sensations  inexpressible.  But  though  my  place  ever- 
more remain  vacant,  yet  you  will  affectionately  remem- 
ber, you  will  daily  pray  for  your  absent  Lucy.  If  it  will 
be  any  gratification  to  you,  I  will  tell  you  upon  what 
we  dined.  We  had  not  that  rich  variety  which  crowds 
the  boards  of  our  American  friends  on  such  occasions, 
but  we  had  enough  of  that  which  was  good,  viz:  roast 
pork,  meat  pie,  biscuit  and  cheese. 

Our  little  room  is  vacated  of  everything  not  essen- 
tial to  every  day  comfort.  I  have  often  thought,  would 
that  I  could  tell  my  dear  friends  that  Lucy  is  contented 
and  happy.  I  can  reflect  with  satisfaction  on  the  rugged 


22  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

pathway  I  have  entered,  viewing  it  as  selected  by  my 
Heavenly  Father.  No  trial  or  privation  which  I  have 
experienced,  or  now  anticipate,  has  ever  caused  me  to 
cast  a  lingering  look  back  to  my  native  shores.  If  I 
may  best  contribute  to  the  happiness  and  usefulness  of 
one  of  Christ's  own  ministers,  of  assisting  in  giving 
civilization,  the  Bible,  and  letters,  to  one  of  the  tribes 
of  men  in  utter  darkness, — it  is  enough  that  I  bid  fare- 
well to  everything  my  heart  so  late  held  dear  in  life, 
and  subject  myself  to  all  the  trials,  privations  and  hard- 
ships of  a  missionary  life.  It  is  to  me  a  source  of  no 
small  consolation,  that  my  present  undertaking  met  the 
approbation  of  my  father  and  friends. 

Jan.  20,  1820. — After  having  been  out  ninety-four 
days,  and  witnessing  nothing  but  floating  barques  like 
our  own,  some  monsters  of  the  deep,  the  expansive 
ocean  and  the  wide-spread  heavens,  I  can  not  describe 
to  you  the  joyful  emotions  which  the  sight  of  land  has 
this  day  produced.  We  have  a  fair  view  of  Terra  del 
Fuego  on  the  right,  and  Staten  Land  on  the  left.  The 
Captain  has  this  evening  heaved  to,  viewing  it  as  dan- 
gerous passing  the  straight  in  the  night,  from  the  liabil- 
ity of  meeting  a  gale  in  this  tempestuous  region. 

Jan.  2/. — Yesterday  we  entered  the  Strait  of  Le 
Marie,  fifteen  miles  wide.  The  scene  before  us  was  in- 
teresting and  sublime.  On  either  side  was  a  long  con- 
tinued range  of  mountains.  The  tops  of  some  were 
covered  with  snow,  while  others  reached  to  the  clouds. 
There  the  naked  eye  could  discover  forests,  trees,  grass 
and  sandbanks.  But  what  interested  my  feelings  most 
of  all  was  the  discovery  of  a  smoke  on  the  island  of 
Terra  del  Fuego.  Through  spy-glasses  two  men  could 
be  discovered  near  it.  Whether  they  were  natives  or 
shipwrecked  mariners  we  knew  not,  nor  could  it  be 
ascertained  without  much  labor  and  danger. 


1820.  23 

Jan.  29. — By  a  strong  wind  we  have  been  driven 
fifty  or  sixty  miles  east.  Sails  were  taken  down  and 
we  were  carried  before  the  wind.  The  incessant  and 
violent  rocking  of  the  vessel  keeps  me  here  laid  pros- 
trate upon  my  couch.  Oh,  the  luxury  in  feeble  health 
of  reclining  on  a  bed  with  tranquility  and  ease !  But  I 
must  not,  I  will  not  repine.  Even  now,  though  tears 
bedew  my  cheeks,  I  wish  not  for  an  alteration  in  my 
present  situation  or  future  prospects.  When  I  look 
forward  to  that  land  of  darkness,  whither  I  am  bound, 
and  reflect  on  the  degradation  and  misery  of  its  inhabi- 
tants, follow  them  into  the  eternal  world,  and  forward 
to  the  great  day  of  retribution,  all  my  petty  sufferings 
dwindle  to  a  point,  and  I  exclaim,  what  have  I  to  say 
of  trials,  I,  who  can  press  to  my  bosom  the  word  of 
God,  and  feel  interested  in  those  precious  promises 
which  it  contains. 

Feb.  21. — Several  things  respecting  the  mission 
appear  in  a  much  less  favorable  light  than  when  I  con- 
templated the  subject  in  my  native  land.  The  circum- 
stance which  appeared  so  auspicious  of  the  king's  re- 
turning with  his  influence  cast  in  the  scale  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity,  nozu  appears  in  the  following 
light ;  that  George  Kaumualii  is  the  illegitimate  son  of 
a  chief.  One  reason  why  he  sent  him  abroad,  was  to 
save  him  from  falling  a  victim  to  the  malice  and  jeal- 
ousy of  his  wife.  On  his  return,  he  has  serious  appre- 
hensions that  his  life  will  be  sought.  It  was  said  that 
Kamehameha,  the  king,  was  wishing  that  instructors 
might  be  sent  there,  promising  to  be  a  father  to  them. 
Poor  man !  Age  has  carried  him  almost  to  his  grave, 
and  his  decease  presents  the  prospect  of  a  civil  war,  to 
decide  which  of  the  chiefs  shall  be  his  successor. 

I  inquired  of  the  Captain  a  few  days  since,  if  he 
thought  there  would  be  any  danger  of  our  lives  being 


24  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

taken  at  the  Islands.  He  said,  aside  from  intoxication, 
to  which  they  were  addicted,  and  which  sometimes  led 
them  on  to  make  bold  assaults,  he  thought  not  in  any- 
other  way  than  by  the  use  of  poisons.  When  they  con- 
ceive a  dislike,  no  intimation  is  given,  but  by  these 
means  they  secretly  seize  on  the  first  opportunity  to 
accomplish  their  fatal  purpose.  Theft  among  them  is 
a  most  common  thing.  I  will  mention  one  instance  of 
this  as  a  fair  specimen  of  many.  The  Captain  once 
visited  the  Sandwich  Islands,  having  in  his  possession 
twenty-four  shirts.  By  the  time  he  left  the  Islands, 
the  number  was  diminished  to  three.  As  we  approach 
the  field  of  our  anticipated  labors,  the  officers,  to  pre- 
pare our  minds  for  future  scenes  and  trials,  kindly 
draw  aside  the  vail  which  conceals  their  pollution  and 
depravity.  I  will  not  yet  draw  a  picture  of  their  degra- 
dation and  impurity.  Enough — for  the  present,  to 
give  you  some  idea  of  the  prospect  before  me.  The 
nearer  I  approach  those  savage  shores,  the  more  I  re- 
flect on  the  subject,  the  great  work  magnifies,  and  I 
exlaim,  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things? 

March  n. — This  afternoon,  as  the  vessel  lay  be- 
calmed, one  of  the  officers,  Mr.  Bingham,  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton, and  two  of  the  native  youths  went  into  the  water 
to  bathe.  Only  one  hour  after  they  came  out,  a  shark 
was  caught.  When  first  observed  it  was  approaching 
a  sailor  who  was  painting  the  outside  of  the  vessel,  his 
feet  hanging  down  in  the  water.  He  was  ignorant  of 
his  danger,  until  he  received  the  alarm  from  one  of  our 
family.  When  caught,  it  seized  hold  of  a  hard  stick 
of  wood  so  violently  as  to  break  out  several  of  its 
teeth,  and  continuing  its  grasp,  by  this  means  suffered 
itself  in  part  to  be  drawn  up  into  the  vessel.  A  large 
bone  was  found  in  its  stomach,  thrown  overboard  at 
the  time  our  friends  were  in  the  water.     Its  extended 


1820.  25 

jaws,  sufficient  to  embrace  a  man's  head,  are  now  hang- 
ing up  in  a  conspicuous  place.  How  it  makes  the  blood 
thrill  through  my  veins  when  I  think  of  the  danger  to 
which  our  friends  were  exposed !  But  as  a  matter  of 
encouragement,  amid  all  the  perils  which  may  await  us 
in  a  savage  land,  may  it  strengthen  my  faith  and  confi- 
dence in  Him  who  has  this  day  been  their  preserver. 

March  20. — When  I  gave  my  hand  to  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton, and  came  out  from  my  father's  house,  to  go  far 
away  to  a  land  unknown,  I  felt  assured  of  the  care 
and  friendship  of  one  precious  friend.  But  my  ex- 
pectations have  been  more  than  realized.  To  be  con- 
nected with  such  a  husband,  and  engaged  in  such  an 
object,  in  the  present  state  of  the  world,  is,  of  all  situ- 
ations in  life,  what  I  choose. 

Farewell,  my  dear  friends.  May  the  prospect  of 
meeting  you  all  in  a  world  where  trials,  separations 
and  sins  shall  be  known  no  more,  soothe  the  feelings, 
and  animate  the  hopes  of  your  affectionate  and  far  dis- 
tant daughter  and  sister, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 
ARTICLE    X. 

Hawaii   in    Sight. 

AFTER  sailing  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  days, 
wc  beheld,  looming  up  before  us,  March  30,  1820, 
the  long  looked-for  island  of  Hawaii.  As  wre  ap- 
proached the  northern  shore,  joy  sparkled  in  every 
eye,  gratitude  and  hope  seemed  to  fill  every  heart.  The 
native  youths  were  all  animation,  scarcely  seeking  the 
refreshment  of  either  sleep  or  food.  Hopu,  though 
he  was  up  all  night  that  he  might  enjoy  a  glimmering 


26  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

view  of  Mauna  Kea,*  after  eating  half  a  meal  at 
breakfast  table,  begged  to  be  excused,  that  he  might 
so  and  see  where  his  father  lived. 


ARTICLE    XI. 

Destruction  of  Idolatry. 

TO  LEARN  the  state  of  the  Islands  and  the  resi- 
dence of  the  king,  the  captain  sent  a  boat  on  shore 
with  an  officer,  attended  by  Hopu  and  Honolii.  Nearly 
three  anxious  hours  we  waited  their  return.  Every 
minute  seemed  to  whet  our  eagerness  for  news.  Then, 
as  Mr.  James  Hunnewell  hastily  came  over  the  side  of 
the  vessel,  we  gathered  closely  around  him.  Quickly, 
with  agitated  lips  he  said : 

"Kamehameha  is  dead;  —  his  son  Liholihof  is 
King; — the  kapus  are  abolished;  —  the  images  are 
burned ; — the  temples  are  destroyed.  There  has  been 
war.     Now  there  is  peace." 

After  the  death  of  Kamehameha,  Liholiho,  the 
young  king,  and  Hewahewa,^  the  last  idolatrous  high 
priest,  cautiously  approached  a  dangerous  subject. 

Priest. — "What  do  you  think  of  the  kapus?" 

King. — "Do  you  think  it  well  to  break  them?" 

Priest. — "That  lies  with  you." 

King. — "It  is  as  you  say." 

And  in  this  way,  endeavoring  to  penetrate  each 
others  sentiments,  they  were  led  to  the  expression  of 
their  own  thoughts. 

*Keopuolani,  the  king's  mother,  urged  the  king  to 

*Mow'-nah  Kay'  ah,  the  highest  mountain  on   the   Islands. 

fLe'-ho-le'-ho. 

+  Hay'-wah-hay'-wah. 

*Kay-o-pu-o-lah'-ne. 


1820.  27 

violate  the  kapus,  setting  the  example  herself  by  eating 
with  his  younger  brother. 

*Kaahumanu,  in  authority  associated  with  the 
king,  decidedly  told  him  that  she  would  cast  aside  his 
gods.  To  this  he  made  no  objections.  Between  them 
matters  were  arranged  for  the  further  development  of 
their  designs.  He  then  smoked  and  drank  with  the 
female  chiefs. 

A  feast  was  prepared  after  the  custom  of  the 
country  with  separate  tables  for  the  sexes.  When  all 
the  guests,  including  many  foreigners,  were  in  their 
places,  the  king  rose  up  and  said  to  Mr.  Young:  "Cut 
up  these  fowls  and  this  pig;"  which  being  done,  he 
suddenly  started  off  and  went  to  the  women's  table, 
where,  seating  himself  by  the  queens,  he  began  to  eat 
with  a  fury  of  appetite,  requesting  them  to  partake 
with  him.  The  whole  native  assembly  was  struck  with 
horror  and  consternation  at  the  sight,  and  looked  to 
see  him  fall  down  dead.  But  no  harm  to  the  king  en- 
suing they  at  length  cried  out  with  one  voice,  "The 
kapn  is  broken,  the  eating  kapu  is  broken."  When 
the  feast,  indulged  in  indiscriminately,  was  ended,  the 
king  issued  his  commands,  that  all  the  idols  should  be 
overthrown,  the  temples  destroyed,  and  the  priesthood 
abolished. 

It  was  last  October  that  the  flames  were  lighted 
up  to  consume  the  sacred  relics  of  ages.  The  high 
priest.  Hewahewa,  was  the  first  to  apply  the  torch. 

He  said:  "I  knew  that  the  wooden  images  of 
deities,  carved  by  our  own  hands,  could  not  supply  our 
wants,  but  worshipped  them  because  it  was  a  custom 
of  our  fathers.  They  made  not  the  kalo  to  grow,  nor 
sent  us  rain.     Neither  did  they  bestow  life  or  health. 

*Kah-ab-hn-mah/-nu. 


28  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

My  thought  has  always  been,  there  is  one  only  great 
God,  dwelling  in  the  heavens." 

He  was  cordial  in  his  welcome  to  his  brother 
priests,  as  he  styled  the  missionaries. 

ARTICLE    XII 

Second  Priest. 

THERE  was  another  pagan  priest  who  tenaciously 
adhered  to  the  idols.  In  the  presence  of  the  king 
he  was  brought  to  the  test  of  renouncing  the  system 
of  idolatry  by  being  required  to  eat  some  poi  from  the 
women's  calabash.  He  zvould  not  do  it.  As  a  conse- 
quence the  king  required  him  to  drink  a  whole  quart 
bottle  of  whisky.  The  natives  then  placed  him  per- 
pendicularly by  the  body  of  a  tree,  and  lashed  him  to 
it  with  a  rope,  in  such  a  snug  manner,  that  in  a  short 
time  it  squeezed  the  very  life  out  of  him.  He  was  no 
farther  care  to  them  that  night. 

In  the  morning  they  took  down  his  lifeless  body, 
tied  a  rope  to  his  heels  and  drew  him  about  the  village. 
When  weary  with  that  sport,  they  put  the  body  on 
board  a  canoe,  carried  it  out  to  sea,  and  threw  it 
overboard. 


ARTICLE    XIII. 

Missionary   Movement   in   New   England. 

SIMULTANEOUSLY  with  these  strange  events  on 
Hawaii,  last  September  and  October,  a  new  and 
powerful  impulse  was  given  to  missionary  enterprise 
in  the  New  England  States.  There  was  a  deep  inter- 
est and  feeling,  an  extended  moving  and  melting  of 


1820.  29 

heart.  Hasten,  hasten,  was  the  watchword  that  went 
from  church  to  church. 

Mr.  Whitney,  pursuing  a  course  of  study  in  Yale 
College,  being  in  his  sophomore  year,  was  impelled  to 
go  to  the  heathen  at  once. 

Captain  and  Mrs.  Chamberlain,  of  independent 
property,  surrounded  by  every  comfort  of  a  New  Eng- 
land home,  with  five  children,  were  impelled  to  go  at 
once,  taking  their  whole  family  with  them. 

Ladies  were  ready  to  go,  leaving 

- — "Home,    and   ease,    and    all   the    cultured   joys, 
Conveniences,  and  delicate  delights 
Of  ripe   society,   in   the   great   cause 
Of  man's  salvation.'' 

Six  marriages  were  solemnized  ;  two  missionaries 
were  ordained  ;  a  band  was  gathered  from  four  differ- 
ent States,  and  a  dozen  different  churches,  to  go  forth 
as  messengers  of  the  churches,  to  the  far  distant  land 
of  Obookiah,  having  hold  of  the  strong  cable,  of  leav- 
ing the  church  on  her  knees.  Obookiah  from  on  high 
saw  that  day.  He  saw  the  darkness  fleeing  away  from 
Hawaii,  and  that  that  mission  family,  so  hastily  fitted 
out,  was  going  forth  to  carry  the  Bible  to  a  nation 
without  a  God. 

But  we  return  to  brig  Thaddcus,  sailing  along  the 
western  coast  of  Hawaii. 


ARTICLE    XIV. 

First   Interview   with   Natives. 

SOON  the  islanders  of  both  sexes  came  paddling 
out  in  their  canoes,  with  their  island  fruit.  The 
men  wore  girdles,  and  the  women  a  slight  piece  of 
cloth  wrapped  round  them,  from  the  hips  downward. 


30  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

To  a  civilized  eye  their  covering  seemed  to  be  revolt- 
ingly  scanty.  But  we  learned  that  it  was  a  full  dress 
for  daily  occupation.  All  was  kapa,  beaten  out  of  the 
bark  of  a  certain  tree,  and  could  ill  bear  washing. 
Kamehameha  I.  as  well  understood  how  to  govern,  as 
how  to  conquer,  and  strictly  forbade  foreign  cloth 
from  being  assumed  by  his  large  plebeian  family. 

As  I  was  looking  out  of  a  cabin  window,  to  see  a 
canoe  of  chattering  natives  with  animated  counte- 
nances, they  approached  and  gave  me  a  banana.  In 
return  I  gave  them  a  biscuit.  "JVahine  maikai," 
(good  woman)  was  the  reply.  I  then  threw  out  sev- 
eral pieces,  and  from  my  scanty  vocabulary  said  "11 a- 
hine,"  (woman.)  They  with  great  avidity  snatched 
them  up  and  again  repeated,  "IVahine  maikai." 

Thus,  after  sailing  eighteen  thousand  miles,  I  met, 
for  the  first  time,  those  children  of  nature  alone.  Al- 
though our  communications  by  look  and  speech  were 
limited,  and  simple,  friendly  pledges  received  and 
given,  yet  that  interview  through  the  cabin  window 
of  the  brig  TJiaddeus  gave  me  a  strengthening  touch 
in  crossing  the  threshold  of  the  nation. 


ARTICLE    XV. 

Arrival  of  Principal   Chiefs. 

APPROACHING  Kawaihae  Hopu  went  ashore  to 
invite  on  board  some  of  the  highest  chiefs  of  the 
nation.  Kindly  regarding  the  feelings  of  the  ladies,  he 
suggested  that  they  put  on  garments.  So  they  pre- 
pared for  the  occasion.  Kalanimoku*  was  the  first 
person  of  distinction  that  came.  In  dress  and  man- 
ners he  appeared  with  the  dignity  of  a  man  of  culture. 

*Kah-lah'-nee-mo'-koo. 


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1820.  31 

He  was  first  introduced  to  the  gentlemen,  with  whom 
he  shook  hands  in  the  most  cordial  manner.  He  then 
turned  to  the  ladies,  to  whom,  while  yet  at  a  distance, 
he  respectfully  bowed,  then  came  near,  and  being  in- 
troduced, presented  to  each  his  hand.  The  effects  of 
that  first  warm  appreciating  clasp,  I  feel  even  now. 
To  be  met  by  such  a  specimen  of  heathen  humanity  on 
the  borders  of  their  land,  was  to  "stay  us  with  flagons, 
and  comfort  us  with  apples."  Kalakua,*  with  a  sister 
queen  next  welcomed  us  with  similar  civilities.  They 
were  two  out  of  five  dowager  queens  of  Kamehameha. 
They  had  limbs  of  giant  mould.  I  was  taught  to  esti- 
mate their  weight  at  three  hundred  lbs.,  and  even 
more.  Kalakua  was  the  mother  of  three  of  the  wives 
of  the  young  king.  Two  wives  of  Kalanimoku  fol- 
lowed. They  were  all  attired  in.  a  similar  manner,  a 
dress,  then  the  pauj  which  consisted  of  ten  thick- 
nesses of  the  bark  cloth  three  or  four  yards  long,  and 
one  yard  wide,  wrapped  several  times  round  the  mid- 
dle, and  confined  by  tucking  it  in  on  one  side.  The 
two  queens  had  loose  dresses  over  these. 

Trammeled  with  clothes  and  seated  on  chairs,  the 
queens  were  out  of  their  element.  They  divested 
themselves  of  their  outer  dresses.  Then  the  one 
stretched  herself  full  length  upon  a  bench,  and  the 
other  sat  down  upon  the  deck.  Mattresses  were  then 
brought  for  them  to  recline  in  their  own  way. 

After  reaching  the  cabin,  the  common  sitting 
room  for  ladies  and  gentlemen,  one  of  the  queens  di- 
vested herself  of  her  only  remaining  dress,  simply  re- 
taining her  pau.  While  we  were  opening  wide  our 
eyes,  she  looked  as  self-possessed  and  easy  as  though 
sitting  in  the  shades  of  Eden. 

*Kah-lah-koo'-ah. 
fPah-oo'. 


32  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

Kalanimoku  dined  with  our  family,  eating  as  oth- 
ers ate.  The  women  declined  sitting  with  us.  After 
we  rose  from  table  they  had  their  own  food  brought 
on,  raw  fish  and  poi,  eating  with  their  fingers. 

From  Kawaihae  the  chiefs  and  their  large  retinue 
all  sailed  with  us  to  Kailua,*  where  the  king  resided. 
They  all  slept  on  deck  on  their  mats.  While  passing 
in  the  grey  of  evening  between  two  rows  of  native  men 
in  Hawaiian  costume,  the  climax  of  queer  sensations 
was  reached. 

Kalakua  brought  a  web  of  white  cambric  to  have 
a  dress  made  for  herself  in  the  fashion  of  those  of 
our  ladies,  and  was  very  particular  in  her  wish  to  have 
it  finished  while  sailing  along  the  western  side  of  the 
island  before  reaching  the  king. 

ARTICLE    XVI. 

Sewing  Circle. 

MONDAY  morning,  April  3d,  the  first  sewing  cir- 
cle was  formed  that  the  sun  ever  looked  down 
upon  in  this  Hawaiian  realm.  Kalakua,  queen  dowa- 
ger, was  directress.  She  requested  all  the  seven  white 
ladies  to  take  seats  with  them  on  mats,  on  the  deck  of 
the  Thaddcus.  Mrs.  Holman  and  Mrs.  Ruggles  were 
executive  officers,  to  ply  the  scissors  and  prepare  the 
work.  As  the  sisters  were  very  much  in  the  habit  of 
journalizing,  every  one  was  a  self-constituted  record- 
ing secretary.  The  four  native  women  of  distinction 
were  furnished  with  calico  patchwork  to  sew, — a  new 
employment  to  them. 

The  dress  was  made  in  the  fashion  of  1819.  The 
length  of  the  skirt  accorded  with  Brigham  Young's 
rule  to  his  Mormon  damsels, — have  it  come  dozvn  to 

*Ki-loo'-ah. 


1820.  33 

the  tops  of  the  shoes.  But  in  the  queen's  case,  where 
the  shoes  were  wanting,  the  bare  feet  cropped  out 
Aery  prominently. 


ARTICLE    XVII. 

Kalanimoku. 

WAS  prime  minister  of  the  king,  and  the  most 
powerful  executive  man  in  the  nation.  He  was 
sometimes  called  the  "Iron  cable  of  Hawaii." 

Last  January,  while  we  were  in  the  region  of 
Cape  Horn,  a  rebel  chief  usurped  kingly  power,  to  sus- 
tain the  idols,  and  caused  the  blood  of  the  last  human 
sacrifice  to  flow.  His  party  in  favor  of  the  idols  was 
opposed  by  the  king's  force,  led  on  by  Kalanimoku, 
who  proved  victorious.  When  about  to  join  battle  he 
thus  addressed  his  men  :  "Be  calm  —  be  voiceless  —  be 
valiant  —  drink  of  the  bitter  waters,  my  sons  —  turn 
not  back  —  onward  unto  death  —  no  end  for  which  to 
retreat." 

Now  the  great  warrior  was  among  us,  learning  the 
English  alphabet  with  the  docility  of  a  child.  He  often 
turned  to  it,  and  as  often  his  favorite  teacher,  Daniel 
Chamberlain,  a  son  five  years  of  age.  "And  a  little 
child  shall  lead  them." 

[Six  years  after  this  Kalanimoku  was  called  into 
the  spirit  land.  He  lived  to  receive,  and  to  love  the 
"glad  tidings  of  great  joy."] 

ARTICLE    XVIII. 

Anchored  and  Went  Ashore. 

APRIL  4th,  Tuesday  a.  m.,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  days   from  Boston  the   Thaddeus  was  an- 
chored before  Kailua.     The  queen  dowager,  Kalakua, 


34  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

assumed  a  new  appearance.  In  addition  to  her  newly- 
made  white  dress,  her  person  was  decorated  with  a  lace 
cap,  having  on  a  wreath  of  roses,  and  a  lace  half  necker- 
chief, in  the  corner  of  which  was  a  most  elegant  sprig 
of  various  colors.  They  were  presents  we  had  brought 
her  from  some  American  friends.  When  she  went 
ashore,  she  was  received  by  hundreds  with  a  shout. 

Captain  Blanchard,  Messrs.  Bingham  and  Thurs- 
ton, together  with  Hopu,  went  ashore  and  called  on 
the  king  in  his  grass-thatched  house.  They  found  him 
eating  dinner  with  his  five  wives,  all  of  them  in  the 
free,  cool  undress  of  native  dishabille.  Two  of  his 
wives  were  his  sisters,  and  one  the  former  wife  of  his 
father. 

After  completing  their  meal,  four  of  the  wives, 
with  apparent  sisterly  affection  and  great  pleasure, 
turned  to  a  game  of  cards.  As  was  the  custom,  one 
wife  was  ever  the  close  attendant  of  her  regal  lord. 

Hopu  then  introduced  Messrs.  Bingham  and 
Thurston  as  priests  of  the  Most  High  God  who  made 
heaven  and  earth. 

The  letters  were  then  read  to  the  king  from  Dr. 
"Worcester  of  Boston,  and  from  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, and  the  object  for  which  they  came  to  live 
among  them  was  explained.  The  visitors  then  re- 
tired, leaving  the  subject  for  royal  consideration. 

ARTICLE    XIX. 

The  King  Dines  on  Board. 

APRIL  6th,  the  king  and  family  dined  with  us  by 
invitation.  They  came  off  in  a  double  canoe  with 
waving  kali  His*  and  twenty  rowers,  ten  on  each  side, 
and  with  a  large  retinue  of  attendants.    The  king  was 

*Kah-hee'-lee. 


1820.  35 

introduetl  to  the  first  white  women,  and  they  to  the 
first  king,  that  each  had  ever  seen. 

His  dress  on  the  occasion  was  a  girdle,  a  green 
silk  scarf  put  on  under  the  left  arm,  brought  up  and 
knotted  over  the  right  shoulder,  a  chain  of  gold  around 
his  neck  and  over  his  chest,  and  a  wreath  of  yellow 
feathers  upon  his  head. 

We  honored  the  king,  but  we  loved  the  cultivated 
manhood  of  Kalanimoku.  He  was  the  only  indi- 
vidual Hawaiian  that  appeared  before  us  with  a  full 
civilized  dress. 

After  dining  with  the  royal  family,  all  were  gath- 
ered on  the  quarter-deck.  There  the  Mission  Family, 
the  captain  and  officers  sung  some  hymns,  aided  by  the 
bass-viol,  played  by  Kaumualii,  a  young  native  chief 
returning  with  us. 

The  king  appeared  with  complacency,  and  retired 
with  that  friendly  aloha  that  left  behind  him  the  quiet 
hope  that  he  would  be  gracious. 

ARTICLE    XX. 

Several  of  the   Missionaries  Go  Ashore. 

THE  next  day  several  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of 
the  Mission  went  ashore,  hoping  that  social  inter- 
course might  give  weight  to  the  scale  that  was  then 
poising.  They  visited  the  palace.  Ten  or  fifteen  armed 
soldiers  stood  without,  and  although  it  was  ten  or 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  we  found  him  on  whom 
devolved  the  government  of  a  nation,  three  or  four  of 
his  chiefs,  and  five  or  six  of  his  attendants,  prostrate 
on  their  mats,  wrapped  in  deep  slumbers. 


ARTICLE    XXI. 

The   King's  Position   and  Views. 

THE  king  had  just  put  down  one  religion.  In  doing 
it  his  throne  had  tottered.  It  was  a  grave  ques- 
tion for  him  to  adopt  a  new  one.  Hopu,  who  was  apt 
to  teach,  had  told  them  that  our  religion  allowed  nei- 
ther polygamy  nor  incest.  So  when  Kamamalu,*  the 
sister  and  marked  favorite  out  of  five  queens,  urged 
the  king  to  receive  the  Mission,  he  replied:  "If  I  do 
they  will  allow  me  hut  one  wife,  and  that  will  not  be 
you."     His  royal  father  had  twenty-one  wives. 

Nor  did  the  King  seem  to  understand  about  learn- 
ing what  kind  of  a  thing  it  was,  and  whether  it  would 
be  good  for  his  people.  He  asked  a  missionary  to 
write  his  name  on  a  piece  of  paper.  He  wrote  it  Liho- 
liho.  The  king  looked  at  it  and  said  :  "It  looks  neither 
like  myself  nor  any  other  man." 

ARTICLE    XXII. 

Permitted   a   Residence   on   Shore. 

AFTER  various  consultations,  fourteen  days  after 
reaching  the  Islands,  March  12th,  permission, 
simply  for  one  year,  was  obtained  from  the  king  for  all 
the  missionaries  to  land  upon  his  shores.  Two  gentle- 
men with  their  wives,  and  two  native  youth  were  to 
stop  at  Kailua.  The  rest  of  the  Mission  were  to  pass 
on  forthwith  to  Honolulut. 

Such   an   early   separation   was   unexpected   and 

*Kah-mah-mah.-loo. 
tHo-no-loo'-loo. 

36 


1820.  37 

painful.  But  broad  views  of  usefulness  were  to  be 
taken,  and  private  feelings  sacrificed. 

At  evening  twilight  we  sundered  ourselves  from 
close  family  ties,  from  the  dear  old  brig,  and  from 
civilization.  We  went  ashore  and  entered,  as  our 
home,  an  abode  of  the  most  uncouth  and  humble  char- 
acter. It  was  a  thatched  hut,  with  one  room,  having 
two  windows  made  simply  by  cutting  away  the  thatch 
leaving  the  bare  poles.  On  the  ground  for  the  feet  was 
first  a  layer  of  grass,  then  of  mats.  Here  we  found 
our  effects  from  the  Thaddeus;  but  no  arrangement 
of  them  could  be  made  till  the  house  was  thoroughly 
cleansed. 

On  the  boxes  and  trunks,  as  they  were  scattered 
about  the  room,  we  formed  a  circle.  We  listened  to  a 
portion  of  scripture,  sang  a  hymn,  and  knelt  in  prayer. 
The  simple  natural  fact  speaks  for  itself.  It  was  the 
first  family  altar  ever  reared  on  this  group  of  islands 
to  the  worship  of  Jehovah. 

Flat-topped  trunks  and  chests  served  admirably 
in  accommodating  us  to  horizontal  positions  for  the 
night.  Honest  Dick,  a  native  who  had  been  with  us 
while  lying  in  port,  sat  within,  and  the  king  sent  sol- 
diers to  keep  sentinel  without.  Notwithstanding  all, 
the  night  proved  to  be  nearly  a  sleepless  one.  There 
was  a  secret  enemy  whose  name  was  legion  lying  in 
ambush ;  or  rather  we  had  usurped  their  rights  and 
taken  possession  of  their  own  citadel.  It  was  the  flea. 
Thus  the  night  passed.  But  bright  day  visited  us  with 
its  soft  climate  and  gentle  sea-breeze. 


ARTICLE    XXIII. 

The  Two  Hawaiian  Youth,    and  the  Two  American   Missionaries. 

IN  the  morning  the  two  Hawaiian  youth  walked  away 
to  see  the  gentry ;  and  having  an  eye  to  influence, 
they  put  on  their  best  broadcloth  suits  and  ruffled 
shirts,  their  conspicuous  watch  chains  of  course  dan- 
gling from  the  fobs  of  their  pants.  Their  hair  was 
cut  short  on  the  sides  and  back  of  the  head,  but  left 
long  on  top,  to  stand  gracefully  erect.  Their  style  was 
just  the  same  as  if  again  about  to  enter  the  capacious 
drawing  rooms  of  Boston  where  they  had  been  re- 
ceived with  so  much  eclat. 

The  two  American  missionaries  rolled  up  their 
shirt  sleeves  above  their  elbows,  and  went  to  work  in 
good  earnest,  removing  from  the  house  all  their  effects 
brought  from  the  Thaddeus,  conveying  away  all  old 
mats  and  grass,  giving  a  thorough  sweeping  to  the 
thatch  above,  and  the  ground  below,  spreading  down 
new  grass  and  new  mats,  putting  up  two  high  post  bed- 
steads of  Chinese  manufacture,  lent  them  by  Kama- 
malu,  the  queen,  and  bringing  in  such  articles  as  would 
be  a  substitute  for  furniture.  A  large  chest  in  the 
middle  of  the  room  served  for  a  dining  ^able,  small 
boxes  and  buckets  for  dining  chairs,  and  trunks  for 
settees.  We  had  block-tin  tumblers,  which  answered 
well  in  receiving  hot  tea,  and  likewise  served  to  im- 
press the  mind  with  the  philosophical  fact,  through  the 
lips  and  tips  of  the  fingers,  that  metal  is  a  good  con- 
ductor of  heat. 

We  trimmed  the  high  post  bedsteads  with  cur- 
tains ;  then  added  one  from  the  foot  corner  to  the  side 
of  the  house,  thereby  forming  at  the  back  of  each  bed 
a  spot  perfectly  retired.     The  two  native  youth  were 

38 


1820.  39 

added  to  the  king's  retinue.  In  twenty-four  hours  we 
found  ourselves  in  circumstances  comparatively  neat 
and  comfortable. 

For  three  days  the  king's  steward  kept  three  pew- 
ter platters  liberally  supplied  with  fish,  taro  and  sweet 
potato,  cooked  in  the  native  manner. 

For  several  days  we  received  calls  from  the 
queens  and  their  whole  train  of  attendants,  three  or 
four  times  in  a  day,  and  at  each  time  were  solicited 
to  hear  them  read.  When  the  queens  were  at  our 
house,  we  sisters  were  Marys ;  when  they  were  away, 
we  were  Marthas. 

ARTICLE    XXIV. 

Table. 

THREE  days  after  landing,  king  Liholiho  gave  us 
a  large  circular  table  of  Chinese  workmanship, 
having  six  drawers,  which  became  a  very  eligible  din- 
ing table.  In  that  manner  it  was  generally  used  for 
twenty  years  until  a  family  of  children  had  risen  and 
been  dispersed.  Since  which  time  it  has  thirty  years 
graced  a  parlor,  every  year  becoming  more  and  more 
valuable  for  its  antiquity,  and  as  having  been  a  royal 
present  at  one  of  the  most  interesting  periods  of  our 
lives. 

ARTICLE    XXV. 

Development  of  Our  Associates. 

THREE  days  had  not  elapsed  after  landing  when 
the  wife  of  our  associate  invited  me  to  a  private 
conference.  It  was  secured  by  going  to  a  mud-walled 
store  house  near  by.  Having  entered,  we  closed  the 
door  to  exclude  the  scores  of  natives  hovering  about. 


40  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

But  in  so  doing  we  shut  out  the  light  of  day.  On  two 
of  our  number  "Tekel"  has  been  written.  They  had 
been  weighed  in  the  balances  and  found  wanting.  The 
wife  said  she  never  would  be  willing  to  exercise  that 
degree  of  self-denial  which  was  called  for  by  a  situa- 
tion among  this  people.  In  three  months  they  left  the 
station  assigned  them  by  the  Mission,  and  branched 
out  into  independent  plans,  to  terminate  in  returning 
to  their  native  land. 

Mr.  Thurston,  in  writing  for  more  aid,  thus  de- 
scribes the  character  of  persons  wanted : 

"We  want  men  and  women  who  have  souls;  who 
are  crucified  to  the  world,  and  the  world  to  them ;  who 
have  their  eyes  and  their  hearts  fixed  on  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  salvation  of  the  heathen ;  who  will  be  will- 
ing to  sacrifice  every  interest  but  Christ's ;  who  will 
cheerfully  and  constantly  labor  to  promote  His  cause ; 
in  a  word,  those  who  are  pilgrims  and  strangers,  such 
as  the  apostle  mentions  in  Hebrews,  11th  chapter." 

ARTICLE  XXVI. 

A  Feast  in  Honor  of  Kamehameha  I. 

APRIL  29. — For  two  days  we  heard  one  continued 
yell  of  dogs.  I  visited  their  prison.  Between 
one  and  two  hundred  were  thrown  in  groups  on  the 
ground,  utterly  unable  to  move,  having  their  fore-legs 
brought  over  their  backs  and  bound  together.  Some 
had  burst  the  bands  that  confined  their  mouths,  and 
some  had  expired.  Their  piteous  moans  would  excite 
the  compassion  of  any  feeling  heart.  Natives  consider 
baked  dog  a  great  delicacy,  too  much  so  in  the  days  of 
their  idolatry  ever  to  allow  it  to  pass  the  lips  of 
women.     They  never  offer  it  to  foreigners,  who  hold 


1820.  41 

it  in  great  abhorrence.  Once  they  mischievously  at- 
tached a  pig's  head  to  a  dog's  body,  and  thus  inveigled 
a   foreigner  to  partake  of  it  to  his  great  acceptance. 

The  above  mentioned  dogs  were  collected  for  the 
grand  feast  which  is  this  day  made  to  commemorate 
the  death  of  Kamehameha  I.  The  king  departed  from 
his  usual  custom  and  spread  a  table  for  his  family  and 
ours.  There  were  many  thousand  people  present.  The 
king  appeared  in  a  military  dress  with  quite  an  exhibi- 
tion of  royalty.  Kamamalu,  his  favorite  queen,  ap- 
plied to  me  for  one  of  my  dresses  to  wear  on  the  oc- 
casion ;  but  as  it  was  among  the  impossibles  for  her  to 
assume  it,  the  request  happily  called  for  neither  con- 
sent nor  denial.  She,  however,  according  to  court 
ceremony,  so  arranged  a  native-cloth  pan,  a  yard  wide, 
with  ten  folds,  as  to  be  enveloped  round  the  middle 
with  seventy  thicknesses.  To  array  herself  in  this 
unwieldy  attire,  the  long  cloth  was  spread  out  on  the 
ground,  when,  beginning  at  one  end,  she  laid  her  body 
across  it,  and  rolled  herself  over  and  over  till  she  had 
rolled  the  whole  around  her.  Two  attendants  fol- 
lowed her,  one  bearing  up  the  end  of  this  cumbrous 
robe  of  state,  and  the  other  waving  over  her  head  an 
elegant  nodding  flybrush  of  beautiful  plumes,  its  long 
handle  completely  covered  with  little  tortoise-shell 
rings  of  various  colors. 

Her  head  was  ornamented  with  a  graceful  yellow 
wreath  of  elegant  feathers,  of  great  value,  from  the 
fact  that  after  a  mountain  bird  had  been  caught  in.  a 
snare,  but  just  two  small  feathers  of  rare  beauty,  one 
under  each  wing,  could  be  obtained  from  it.  A  moun- 
tain vine,  with  green  leaves,  small  and  lustrous,  was 
the  only  drapery  which  went  to  deck  and  cover  her 
neck  and  the  upper  part  of  her  person.  Thus  this 
noble  daughter  of  nature,  at  least  six  feet  tall  and  of 


42  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

comely  bulk  in  proportion,  presented  herself  before  the 
king  and  the  nation,  greatly  to  their  admiration.  After 
this  presentation  was  over,  her  majesty  lay  down  again 
upon  the  ground  and  unrolled  the  cloth  by  reversing 
the  process  of  clothing. 


ARTICLE    XXVII. 

Preaching  and   School. 

THE  first  time  that  Mr.  Thurston  preached  before 
the  king  through  an  interpreter,  was  from  these 
words  :  "I  have  a  message  from  God  unto  thee."  The 
king,  his  family,  and  suite  listened  with  attention. 
When  prayer  was  offered,  they  all  knelt  before  the 
white  man's  God. 

The  king's  orders  were  that  none  should  be  taught 
to  read  but  those  of  rank,  those  to  whom  he  gave  spe- 
cial permission,  and  the  wives  and  children  of  white 
men.  For  several  months  his  majesty  kept  foremost 
in  learning,  then  the  pleasures  of  the  cup  caused  his 
books  to  be  quite  neglected.  Some  of  the  queens  were 
ambitious,  and  made  good  progress,  but  they  met  with 
serious  interruptions,  going  from  place  to  place  with 
their  intoxicated  husband.  The  young  prince,  seven 
years  of  age,  the  successor  to  the  throne,  attended  to 
his  lessons  regularly.  Although  the  king  neglected  to 
learn  himself,  yet  he  was  solicitous  to  have  his  little 
brother  apply  himself,  and  threatened  chastisement  if 
he  neglected  his  lessons.  He  told  him  that  he  must 
have  learning  for  his  father  and  mother  both, — that  it 
would  fit  him  for  governing  the  nation,  and  make  him 
a  wise  and  good  king  when  old. 

The  king  brought  two  young  men  to  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton, and  said :  "Teach  these,  my  favorites,  Ii*  and  Ka- 
huhut.    It  will  be  the  same  as  teaching  me.    Through 

*E-e! 
jKah-hoo'-hoo. 


1820.  43 

them  I  shall  find  out  what  learning  is."  To  do  his 
part  to  distinguish  and  make  them  respectable  schol- 
ars, he  dressed  them  in  a  civilized  manner.  They 
daily  came  forth  from  the  king,  entered  the  presence 
of  their  teacher,  clad  in  white,  while  his  majesty  and 
court  continued  to  sit  in  their  girdles.  Although  thus 
distinguished  from  their  fellows,  in  all  the  beauty  and 
strength  of  ripening  manhood,  with  what  humility  they 
drank  in  instruction  from  the  lips  of  their  teacher, 
even  as  the  dry  earth  drinks  in  water! 

[After  an  absence  of  some  months,  the  king  re- 
turned, and  called  at  our  dwelling  to  hear  the  two 
young  men,  his  favorites,  read.  He  was  delighted 
with  their  improvement,  and  shook  Mr.  Thurston  most 
cordially  by  the  hand — pressed  it  between  both  his 
own — then  kissed  it.]  , 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 

Native    Manners    and    Customs,    and    Domestic    Privations. 

FOR  three  weeks  after  going  ashore,  our  house  was 
constantly  surrounded,  and  our  doors  and  win- 
dows filled  with  natives.  From  sunrise  to  dark  there 
would  be  thirty  or  forty  at  least,  sometimes  eighty  or 
a  hundred.  For  the  sake  of  solitude,  I  one  day  re- 
tired from  the  house,  and  seated  myself  beneath  a 
shade.  In  five  minutes  I  counted  seventy  companions. 
In  their  curiosity  they  followed  the  ladies  in  crowds 
from  place  to  place,  with  simplicity  peering  under  bon- 
nets, and  feeling  articles  of  dress.  It  was  amusing  to 
see  their  efforts  in  running  and  taking  a  stand,  that  so 
they  might  have  a  full  view  of  our  faces.  As  objects 
of  curiosity,  the  ladies  were  by  far  the  most  prominent. 
White  men  had  lived  and  moved  among  them  for  a 
score  of  years.     In  our  company  were  the  first  white 


44  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

women  that  ever  stepped  on  these  shores.  It  was  thus 
the  natives  described  the  ladies :  "They  are  white  and 
have  hats  with  a  spout.  Their  faces  are  round  and 
far  in.  Their  necks  are  long.  They  look  well."  They 
were  called  "Long  Necks."  The  company  of  long 
necks  included  the  whole  fraternity. 

It  was  the  custom  of  a  chief  to  have  a  personal 
attendant  to  carry  a  spitoon,  a  flybrush,  (to  protect 
the  extensive  surface  of  bare  skin,)  and  a  square  cloth 
for  a  covering,  folded  and  borne  upon  the  shoulder. 
The  highest  point  of  etiquette  among  illustrious  Ha- 
waiians  was,  not  to  move.  So,  court  form,  in  receiv- 
ing the  most  distinguished  foreigner,  was,  to  keep  the 
seat. 

An  American  lady,  the  active  wife  of  a  mission- 
ary, could  not  be  measured  by  such  a  yard-stick.  And 
thus  it  was,  that  in  superintending  the  cooking-  stove, 
in  order  to  place  civilized  dishes  on  her  husband's 
table,  that  she  early  became  classed,  by  the  people,  in 
the  category  of  cooks,  whose  special  realm  was  the 
ship's  caboose.  Those  were  the  only  foreign  cooks 
they  had  ever  seen.  The  idea  was  natural  enough, — 
the  Captain's  cook — the  Missionary's  cook. 

Our  stove  was  necessarily  placed  outside  at  a  little 
distance  from  our  front  door.  There  was  no  back  or 
end  doors  to  native  houses.  The  principal  point  of  at- 
traction in  our  village  lay  in  full  view,  but  a  few  rods 
from  us.  There  were  hundreds  of  natives,  all  ages,  of 
both  sexes,  and  of  every  rank,  bathing,  swimming, 
floating  on  surf  boards,  &c,  nearly  or  quite  in  a  state 
of  nudity. 

We  could  command  only  green  brush  wood, 
brought  two  miles  on  the  backs  of  men,  for  cooking 
and  heating  our  one  iron,  for  smoothing  all  our  light, 


1820.  45 

thin,  tropical  dresses,  which  had  been  so  abundantly 
prepared  for  us.  But  to  such  dresses  we  were  limited. 
Every  quart  of  water  was  brought  to  us  from  two  to 
five  miles  in  large  gourd  shells,  on  the  shoulders  of 
men.  The  natives  were  too  ignorant  to  wash  without 
superintendence.  A  new  article  was  sent  to  be  washed 
at  the  fountain,  but  five  holes  were  made  in  it  by  being 
rubbed  on  sharp  lava.  We  had  entered  a  pathway  that 
made  it  wisdom  to  take  things  as  they  came, — and. to 
take  them  by  the  smooth  handle. 


ARTICLE   XXIX. 

A  Royal  Feast. 

KING  Liholiho,  the  royal  family,  and  a  large  reti- . 
nue  called  upon  us.  The  last  urchin  of  the  party 
entered  the  house,  and  crouched  upon  his  heels  within 
the  royal  presence.  Seventy  heads  were  counted  whose 
feet  crossed  that  threshold.  Soon  the  king's  steward 
entered  with  a  bearing  that  shewed  how  well  he  under- 
stood his  responsibilities.  He  bore  in  his  hands  a  large 
tray,  the  contents  of  which  sent  forth  an  aroma,  which, 
to  the  initiated,  was  as  if  the  pleasures  of  a  full  cup 
were  poured  out  to  them.  It  was  a  baked  dog.  He 
placed  it  on  the  table,  tore  it  in  pieces  with  his  hands 
and  teeth,  then  passed  it  around,  each  of  the  grandees 
taking  a  piece.  For  reasons  not  necessary  to  mention, 
the  representatives  of  America,  did  not,  as  usual,  par- 
take of  the  regal  repast. 


ARTICLE    XXX. 

A  Peculiar  Exhibition  that  Marked  the  Times. 

IT  was  evening  twilight.  I  was  behind  the  screen  in 
a  side  room.  From  the  outer  door  into  the  sitting 
room,  proceeded  these  words :  "Good  evening,  Mr. 
Thurston."  It  was  a  voice  never  to  be  forgotten.  We 
were  newly  transplanted  exotics.  We  had  not  then 
taken  root.  We  were  in  the  heart  of  the  nation,  shut 
up  to  a  strange  dialect,  without  associates,  and  with- 
out foreigners  for  neighbors.  English  words,  in  culti- 
vated tones,  fell  with  strange  power  upon  the  ear,  and 
upon  the  heart.  So  it  was  when  an  American  vessel 
visited  our  port.  We  heard  words,  and  experienced 
deeds  of  kindness.  God  bless  mariners.  They  are  the 
links  that  connect  us  to  the  father-land.  The  white 
sails  of  the  ship  were  again  unfurled  to  the  breeze, 
and  the  only  vestige  around  us  of  civilization  had 
passed  away. 

Then  a  whole  sisterhood,  embracing  fifteen  or 
twenty,  assembled  and  took  seats  in  a  conspicuous  part 
of  the  village  to  display  themselves.  Before  the  ar- 
rival of  that  ship,  they  were  simply  attired  in  native 
cloth.  After  her  sailing,  each  one  was  arrayed  in  a 
foreign  article,  obtained  from  that  very  ship.  Their 
own  relatives  and  friends,  perhaps  fathers  or  brothers, 
or  husbands,  had  paddled  off  that  whole  company  of 
women  and  girls,  to  spend  the  night  on  board  that  ship, 
specially  for  the  gratification  of  its  inmates.  When 
they  returned,  each  one  flaunted  her  base  reward  of 
foreign  cloth. 

Thus  it  was  that  when  these  children  of  nature 
first  came  in  contact  with  a  superior  race,  they  were 
quickly  led  to  follow  a  course,  which  in  their  view, 
won  distinction  and  honor. 

46 


ARTICLE    XXXI 

Life  Alone  No.   I. 

IT  was  a  rule  of  the  Mission,  in  the  first  years  of 
sojourn  among  the  heathen,  not  to  expect  it  of  a 
man  and  a  wife  to  live  alone  at  a  station  without  the 
protection  of  a  second  family.  The  rest  of  the  Mis- 
sion at  Honolulu,  learning  that  by  the  withdrawal  of 
our  associate,  we  were  thus  situated,  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  nation,  immediately  dispatched  a  deputation  of 
one,  Mr.  Whitney,  to  make  a  trip  of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred miles  to  bring  the  isolated  ones  to  share  in  each 
other's  protection.  That  visit  was  to  us  like  the  visit 
of  an  angel.  After  long  conference,  he  asked  for  a 
decisive  answer  to  the  invitation  he  had  brought.  Mr. 
Thurston  said:  "I  wish,  for  the  present,  to  remain  at 
this  post."  Turning  to  me  the  deputy  asked  :  "And 
what  do  you  say?"  I  replied:  "My  feelings  are  ex- 
pressed in  the  wishes  of  my  husband."  After  a  long 
pause,  the  response  came,  "I  believe  you  were  made 
to  be  missionaries."  Under  such  a  despotic  govern- 
ment, it  was  all  important  that  those  in  authority  be 
taught  and  Christianized.  It  was  forging  a  key  that 
would  unlock  privileges  to  a  nation. 

The  house  which  we  then  occupied  was,  at  the 
time  of  our  landing,  the  best  in  the  land,  and  was  ap- 
propriately called  the  king's  palace.  It  was  distin- 
guished from  all  others  by  having  two  doors.  On  the 
front  side,  close  by  the  corner,  was  one,  two  feet  and 
a  half  high.  But  the  state  entrance  was  in  the  middle 
of  one  side,  where  was  a  rudely  constructed  frame  of 
a  door,  three  and  a  half  feet  high.  It  was  duly  poised 
on  hinges  on  one  side,  and  connected  by  a  hasp  and 

47 


48  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

staple  on  the  other.  Two  very  narrow  boards  would 
have  reached  from  hasp  to  hinges.  But  the  board  next 
the  hasp  was  left  off,  that  the  door  might  be  unhooked 
with  the  same  ease  on  each  side.  So  there  was  no 
means  of  fastening  the  door,  either  day  or  night,  when 
at  home  or  abroad.  Thus  situated,  we  could  not  both 
leave  the  house,  and  suffer  our  effects  to  be  carried  off, 
neither  could  I  go  out  without  an  escort.  Thus  the 
lack  of  a  lock  kept  me  as  with  a  lock  for  four  months 
■  rom  passing  beyond  our  own  dooryard;  and  the  lack 
of  eyes  in  the  back  of  my  head,  gave  opportunity  of 
having  property  taken  in  my  very  presence. 

Thus  situated,  so  often  alone,  having  no  protec- 
tion whatever  against  the  admission  of  evil,  I  stood  in 
my  lot,  strengthening  myself  to  the  inglorious  work  of 
looking  after  the  stuff,  while  my  husband  looked  after 
the  people ;  and  the  angels  looked  after  me,  for  in  my 
perilous  position,  not  a  hair  of  my  head  was  singed. 


ARTICLE    XXXII. 

Life  Alone  No.   II. 

ONE  day  Mr.  Thurston  attended  a  religious  meet- 
ing. He  had  no  sooner  gone  from  the  house 
when  a  company  of  natives,  perhaps  a  dozen,  excited 
by  strong  drink,  advanced  and  stationed  themselves 
outside  the  fence  of  the  door  yard.  The  gesticulations 
of  their  naked  arms  were  frantic,  and  the  house  was 
made  the  target  for  the  fiery  glances  of  their  wild 
eyes.  Within  that  slight  pole  fence,  stood  our  slight 
grass-thatched  hut,  where,  from  the  door,  everything 
met  the  eye  at  a  glance.  I  cautiously  closed  the  doors, 
and  justly  feeling  the  perils  of  being  alone,  stood  for 
an  hour,  peeping  out  at  a  crevice,  to  note  whether  the 


1820.  49 

house  was  to  be  invaded  or  simply  besieged.  An  hour 
contains  sixty  minutes,  and  a  minute  sixty  seconds. 
But  at  that  lone  fearful  post  of  observation,  a  second 
seemed  to  become  a  minute,  and  a  minute  an  hour. 
Mr.  Thurston's  return  was  a  signal  for  that  inflamed 
party  of  natives  to  go  their  way.  Anxiety  and  ap- 
prehension were  washed  away  by  the  soothing  waters 
of  safety  and  peace,  that  swept  through  our  humble 
dwelling. 

ARTICLE    XXXIII. 

Life  Alone  No.   III. 

I  WAS  at  my  dwelling  teaching  the  young  prince 
who  had  half  a  dozen  attendants  with  him.  A 
pagan  priest  of  the  old  religion,  somewhat  intoxicated, 
entered,  and  with  insolent  manners,  divested  himself 
of  his  girdle.  Before  I  was  aware  every  individual 
had  left  the  house  and  yard.  The  priest  and  I  stood 
face  to  face,  alone.  As  he  advanced,  I  receded.  Thus 
we  performed  many  evolutions  around  the  room.  In 
a  retired  corner  stood  a  high  post  bedstead.  He  threw 
himself  upon  the  bed  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the  luxury 
of  rolling  from  side  to  side  upon  its  white  covering. 
On  leaving  it  he  again  approached  and  pursued  me 
with  increased  eagerness. 

My  tactics  were  then  changed.  I  went  out  at 
one  front  door,  and  he  after  me.  I  entered  the  other 
front  door,  and  he  after  me.  Thus  out  and  in,  out 
and  in,  we  continued  to  make  many  circuits.  The 
scene  of  action  was  next  in  the  door  yard.  There, 
being  nearly  entrapped  in  a  corner,  having  a  substan- 
tial stick  in  my  hand,  I  gave  the  fellow  a  severe  blow 
across  the  arm.  As  he  drew  back  under  the  smart, 
I  slipped  by  and  escaped.     Loss  and  pain  together  so 


50  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

enraged  him  that  he  picked  up  clubs  and  threw  at  me. 
There  we  parted,  without  his  ever  touching  me  with  a 
finger.  In  my  flight  I  swiftly  ran  through  the  crowd, 
just  as  I  was,  straight  toward  the  palace  where  Mr. 
Thurston  was  teaching,  quarter  of  a  mile  distant. 
Under  ordinary  circumstances  it  was  an  imprudent 
pathway,  the  beach  being  lined  with  hundreds  of  the 
king's  soldiers,  retainers,  and  other  idlers.  I  had  not 
proceeded  far,  however,  before  I  met  my  husband. 
The  prince  and  his  attendants,  being  frightened  at  the 
appearance  of  the  priest,  ran  to  tell  Hopu.  He  quickly 
communicated  it  to  Mr.  Thurston,  and  so  it  was  that 
he  hastened  to  the  rescue.  As  long  as  action  was  re- 
quired, my  strength,  courage  and  self-possession  were 
equal  to  the  emergency.  But  when  I  sat  down  in  my 
own  dwelling,  safe  beneath  the  protection  of  my  hus- 
band, there  was  a  mighty  reaction.  Then  came  pros- 
tration, trembling  and  tears.  In  fifteen  minutes  the 
house  was  filled  with  scholars  and  their  numerous 
trains  of  attendants.  The  queens  were  very  sympa- 
thizing. With  tears  they  often  tenderly  embraced  me. 
joined  noses  and  said :  "Very  great  is  our  love  to  you." 
The  priest  soon  returned.  His  standing  among 
the  people  was  formerly  very  high,  so  that  at  his  pres- 
ence they  all  fell  prostrate.  Now  he  was  commanded 
to  retire  from  the  door-yard.  Refusing,  he  was  walked 
out  off  the  premises  with  a  muscular  strength  that  no 
common  man  could  resist.  Then,  from  an  apprehen- 
sion of  his  resentment,  by  applying  a  torch  to  our  com- 
bustible house,  two  of  our  devoted  pupils,  John  Ii  and 
James  Kahuhu,  for  a  fortnight  slept  beneath  our  roof, 
with  deadly  weapons  by  their  pillows.  According  to 
advice  from  foreigners,  the  king  would  have  put  the 
priest  to  death ;  but  Mr.  Thurston  restrained  him.  We 
had  been  made  to  feel  that  it  was  imprudent  for  a  lady 


1820.  51 

to  go  abroad  unattended,  but  now  it  was  found  that 
a  protector  was  necessary  to  make  even  a  home  a  safe 
asylum. 

[A  few  years  after,  this  same  pagan  priest  visited 
a  missionary.  He  penitently  acknowledged  his  sins  in 
general,  and  this  in  particular,  and  professed  to  have 
embraced  the  Christian  faith.] 

[As  far  as  is  known,  this  is  the  only  instance 
where  a  missionary  lady  ever  received  insult  from  a 
Hawaiian.] 

ARTICLE    XXXIV. 

Removal  from  Kailua  to  Maui*. 

AFTER  spending  the  first  seven  months  of  mis- 
sionary life  in  Kailua,  the  government  removed 
from  that  place  to  Honolulu,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1820,  and  we  were  directed  by  the  king  to  go  too. 
We  were  to  have  accompanied  him,  but  the  vessel  was 
so  completely  filled  with  natives  as  scarcely  to  leave 
room  to  recline  in  any  position.  So  we  remained,  with 
the  prospect  of  following  them  in  five  or  six  days. 
However,  after  having  everything  packed  ready  to 
put  on  board  immediately,  we  were  obliged  in  that 
state  to  remain  three  weeks,  every  few  days  being  on 
the  point  of  going. 

At  length,  for  the  first  time,  we  embarked  on  a 
native  vessel  for  Maui.  When  on  board,  I  was,  at 
first,  conducted  through  the  crowd  down  into  the 
cabin,  not  expecting  again  to  set  foot  on  deck  till  called 
to  land.  Mr.  Thurston  assured  me  that  he  did  not 
think  he  could  find  a  vacant  place  sufficiently  large  for 
me  either  to  sit  or  stand,  excepting  in  the  cabin.  But 
sickness  and  oppressive  heat  obliged  me  to  make  the 
trial,  when  I  was  kindly  furnished  with  an  eligible  sit- 
uation on  the  top  of  the  companion  way.    Mr.  Thurs- 

*Mani,    an    island  lying  half  way   between   Kailua    and   Honolulu. 


52  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

ton  stood  at  a  little  distance  upon  a  ladder.  Men, 
women  and  children,  from  grey  hairs  to  the  infant 
that  had  just  seen  light,  were  disposed  of  in  almost 
every  position  that  the  mind  could  conceive.  Four 
hundred  and  seventy-five  souls  were  on  that  brig,  and 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  individuals,  all  were  then 
above  deck.  Several  hundred  calabashes,  containing 
poi,  fish,  water,  &c,  provisions  for  the  passage,  occu- 
pied not  a  little  room,  while  a  large  number  of  dogs, 
with  here  and  there  a  nest  of  puppies,  served  to  fill 
up  the  crevices.  The  officers  were  obliged  to  keep 
watch  most  of  the  time,  and  to  proceed  from  place  to 
place  on  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  We  were  treated  with 
a  great  deal  of  kindness,  being  presented  with  fruit, 
vegetables,  fresh  meat,  &c.  My  hands,  fingers,  nails, 
and  every  part  of  dress,  were  examined  and  felt  of 
with  the  utmost  minuteness.  They  were  all  good,  very 
good.  Then  they  asked  about  my  dear  father,  broth- 
ers and  sisters  in  America,  and  contrasted  the  skill  of 
the  people  in  that  land  with  their  own  ignorance. 


ARTICLE    XXXV. 

Stay   a  I  Maui. 

ON  reaching  Maui,  we  went  ashore,  and  at  the  dis- 
tance of  half  a  mile  from  the  beach,  were  rer 
ceived  into  a  retired  new  thatched  house  built  by  Ka- 
lanimoku.  It  was  under  the  care  and  occupied  by  an 
English  sailor,  who  had  been  cast  upon  these  shores, 
and  who  had  previously  been  in  our  family  at  Kailua 
a  fortnight.  An  own  brother  could  not  have  given 
us  a  more  welcome  reception,  or  done  more  to  render 
our  situation  comfortable  and  pleasant.  The  very  next 
morning  after  our  arrival,  in  a  fit  of  intoxication,  the 


1820.  53 

king  was  off  at  the  other  side  of  the  island,  followed 
by  all  the  scholars  and  the  whole  tribe  which  came 
from  Kailua.  Here  we  were  again  in  a  posture  of 
waiting  for  more  than  four  weeks.  For  two  months 
before  leaving  Kailua,  I  had  not  the  means  of  wash- 
ing garments  at  all.  Now  when  the  finest  streams  of 
water  were  running  at  our  feet,  our  dirty  clothes 
were  in  the  vessel's  hold,  at  the  other  side  of  the  island. 
When  I  ultimately  obtained  them  at  Honolulu,  more 
than  two  months  after  I  put  them  on  board  at  Kailua, 
most  of  them  were  soaking  wet,  and  had  so  long  been 
in  that  state,  as  to  be  nearly  or  quite  ruined. 

ARTICLE    XXXVI. 

Removal  from  Maui  to  Honolulu. 

HAVING  obtained  permission  from  the  king,  who 
was  still  on  the  other  side  of  the  island  to  pro- 
ceed to  Honolulu,  we  went,  one  evening,  on  board  the 
famous  barge  Cleopatra,  by  invitation  from  the  cap- 
tain. It  had  a  spacious  cabin  elegantly  ornamented. 
As  we  approached  the  shore  at  Honolulu,  our  hearts 
were  gladdened  by  seeing  Mr.  Bingham  on  the  beach 
waiting  to  receive  us. 

Then  rose  to  our  view  a  village  of  thatched  huts. 
It  was  bare  of  trees  save  groves  of  cocoa-nuts  on  the 
margin  of  the  shore.  Beyond  stretched  out  an  exten- 
sive plain,  open  on  one  side  to  the  sea,  otherwise 
hemmed  in  with  an  amphitheatre  of  mountains,  some 
of  the  nearest  as  naked  of  trees  as  the  village.  But 
the  more  remote  were  dressed  with  nature's  richest, 
most  verdant  robes. 

After  walking  half  a  mile,  followed  by  a  crowd 
of  natives,  we  reached  the  wicket  gate  of  the  large 
kapucd  inclosure  of  the  missionary  establishment, 
which  was  dotted  with  new  thatched  cottages.     We 


54  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

were  conducted  into  a  large  room,  with  seats  of  plank 
around  its  sides.  There  the  whole  family  immediately 
assembled,  and  gave  us  a  cordial  welcome.  A  circle 
Was  at  once  formed,  who  united  in  singing.  Then  all 
knelt  in  thanksgiving  and  prayer  to  Him,  who,  during 
our  separation,  had  been  our  preserver,  granted  some 
degree  of  success  to  our  efforts,  and  was  opening  up 
before  us  prospects  of  increased  usefulness.  A  little 
cottage  of  one  room  was  given  up  to  our  accommoda- 
tion, and  we  were  again  reinstated  in  the  bosom  of 
the  mission  family,  December  21st,  1820. 


ARTICLE    XXXVII. 

The  King,   the   Russian   Commodore,    and  the   Missionaries   Public  Table. 

AFTER  spending  several  months  in  passing  from 
place  to  place,  the  king,  Kaahumanu,  and  the 
rest  of  the  royal  family,  came  to  reside  at  Honolulu. 
The  very  next  morning  after  their  arrival,  the  king 
called  on  the  Mission  family.  He,  with  his  queens, 
visited  every  family  cottage,  the  schoolroom,  the  cook- 
house, and  examined  the  well.  An  improvement  of 
window  frames  and  wooden  shutters  had  been  intro- 
duced into  our  own  personal  cottage  of  one  room. 
Into  the  window  shutter  on  the  east  side  of  the  cot- 
tage, one  pane  of  glass  had  been  admitted.  It  was 
probably  the  first  pane  of  glass  through  which  the  sun 
ever  pierced  its  rays  into  a  dark  Hawaiian  hut.  The 
walls  of  our  dwelling  were  lined  with  fine  mats.  To 
a  common  dining  chair,  the  only  one  we  possessed, 
Mr.  Thurston  had  attached  rockers,  arms,  and  a  high 
back.  He  had,  likewise,  with  a  saw,  broad-axe  and 
jack-knife,  made  a  settee,  which  had  been  trimmed 
with    furniture   calico.     Trunks   and   chests,   liberally 


1821.  55 

placed  around  the  walls  of  the  room,  answered  the 
double  purpose  of  receptacles  and  seats.  There  was 
a  tier  of  shelves,  containing  a  library,  and  a  table  with 
two  writing  desks  upon  it.  A  good  sized  traveling 
looking-glass,  opened  and  firmly  suspended  at  a  due 
distance  above  a  toilette,  which,  with  a  high  post  bed- 
stead, was  trimmed  with  white  throughout,  curtains, 
valances,  and  spread.  Then,  to  the  severe  simplicity 
of  the  room,  was  given  a  touch  of  decoration,  by  vines 
of  mountain  evergreen. 

Our  royal  visitors  examined  every  part  of  the 
room,  and  every  piece  of  furniture  in  a  most  critical 
manner.  All  was  pronounced  to  be  very  good,  and  the 
hands  that  prepared  them  very  skillful.  The  king  felt 
the  bed.  Finding  it  a  mattress,  he  sought  farther  and 
entered  another  cottage.  There  the  feather  bed  had 
just  been  stripped.  Unceremoniously  he  threw  him- 
self upon  it  and  rolled  from  side  to  side  in  a  jovial 
manner,  that  he  might  the  more  fully  experience  its 
soft  delights.  In  passing  out  they  met  with  our  hand 
cart.  The  king  took  a  seat  in  the  bottom  of  it,  and 
thus  backwards  was  drawn  by  his  servants  with  speed 
to  the  village.  A  large  retinue  of  attendants,  his 
wives,  and  an  armed  guard,  all  scampered  across  the 
plain  to  keep  up  with  his  majesty,  their  loose  garments 
flying  in  the  trade  wind. 

We  had  little  more  than  time  to  adjust  our  things 
after  this  company  left  us,  before  another  of  fifteen 
distinguished  characters  approached  our  establishment. 
They  came  in  solitary  grandeur,  destitute  of  a  retinue 
to  carry  shawls,  spittoons,  fly-brushes,  and  guns.  They 
were  the  commodore  of  the  Imperial  Russian  Navy, 
his  aged  venerable  chaplain  of  the  Greek  church,  and 
thirteen  of  the  officers,  all  in  their  appropriate  uni- 
forms. The  chaplain  wore  his  long  sacerdotal  gar- 
ment, his  white  beard  reaching  down  and  nearly  cover- 


56  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

\ 
ing  his  bosom.  Again  our  little  hut  was  completely 
filled.  Only  two  of  the  gentlemen  could  speak  Eng- 
lish ;  but  they  were  none  the  less  social  for  being  un- 
acquainted with  our  language.  They  belonged  to  an 
Exploring  Expedition,  and  they  seemed  well  pleased 
to  explore  our  premises,  our  cottages,  school-room,  the 
meat  of  our  table,  the  sitting  of  our  mission  family, 
the  attendance  of  our  native  boarding  scholars,  and 
our  manner  of  ministering  to  those  who  sat  at  table. 
In  the  school-room,  lessons  first  recited  in  Hawaiian, 
were  translated  into  English,  then  into  Russian.  In 
their  splendid  uniforms,  these  officers  again  came  on 
shore,  and  sat  with  us  at  the  frugal  board  of  our 
united  band. 

Our  dining  table  was  sufficiently  long  to  seat  twen- 
ty-five, and  was  encircled  by  benches  without  backs. 
It  stood  in  a  long  open  piazza  which  connected  three 
cottages  by  the  gable  ends.  Bushes  were  spread  for  the 
feet.  A  colored  cloth  was  the  table's  accustomed  cov- 
ering, while  salt  beef,  sea-bread,  kalo,  coffee,  tea,  a 
small  portion  of  goat's  milk,  and  two  molasses  bottles 
well  replenished,  were  seldom  known  to  fail.  On  gala 
days,  the  sombre  covering  of  the  table  was  exchanged 
for  white  damask.  Molasses  bottles,  too,  might  give 
place  to  the  more  refined  sweets  of  brown  sugar. 

Our  steward  was  unwearied  in  his  chance  efforts 
to  obtain  what  was  so  very  scarce,  a  pig  for  roasting. 
What  was  more,  it  was  the  second  year  in  the  history 
of  Hawaii,  that  woman  might  either  partake  of  baked 
pork  or  sit  at  table  with  her  noble  lord.  Two  priests 
headed  our  table.  The  one  saw  to  it  that  all  piously 
turned  their  thoughts  to  the  living  bread;  the  other, 

that  each  received  a  portion  of  the  bread  that  per- 
isheth. 


ARTICLE   XXXVIII. 

Permission    at   Length   Obtained   for   Erecting   the  First  Wooden   House 
on  the  Islands. 

A  HOUSE  had  been  sent  out  by  the  American  board 
to  their  missionaries  who  asked  permission  to  put 
it  up.  The  king  decidedly  said:  "No,  in  that  respect 
I  wish  to  follow  the  policy  of  my  father.  He  never 
allowed  foreigners  to  build  a  house  but  for  the  king." 
It  was  in  vain  to  tell  him  that  one  of  our  young  moth- 
ers had  suffered  a  severe  illness,  the  result  of  living 
on  the  ground,  saturated  with  flooding  rains. 

Some  time  elapsed,  when  two  of  the  missionaries, 
accompanied  by  their  wives,  called  on  the  king  and 
again  made  application  for  erecting  their  house.  But 
the  reply  was  a  decided  negative.  While  the  missiona- 
ries were  retiring  and  saying  aloha  to  the  numerous 
members  of  the  royal  household,  one  of  the  ladies 
stepped  to  the  elbow  of  the  king.  She  would  have 
said,  "If  we  have  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  allow  the 
foreign  ladies  who  have  come  to  serve  thee,  to  save 
their  health  and  their  lives,  by  living  in  such  a  house 
as  they  have  been  used  to."  But  the  grace  of  idiomatic 
language  in  that  new  dialect  was  wanting.  She  spoke 
necessarily  in  feeble,  broken  language.  Yet  the  king 
was  quick  to  discover  and  appreciate  her  want,  and 
immediately  replied,  "Yes,  build."  Then  she  joined 
her  friends.  But  her  request  and  the  king's  answer 
were  not  mentioned.  She  thought,  let  the  king  be  a 
king,  and  in  again  referring  to  this  subject  let  him 
speak  thoughts  that  spontaneously  arise  in  his  mind 
without  being  reminded  of  previous  utterances.  And 
beside,  she  had  too  much  sympathy  and  reverence  for 

57 


58  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

the  leading  missionaries  to  drop  a  word  to  show  that 
her  prayer  before  the  throne  had  been  more  availing 
than  theirs.  A  few  days  after,  the  king  and  several 
of  his  chiefs  called  and  sat  with  the  mission  family  at 
table.  There,  in  presence  of  them  all,  he  expressed 
his  full  approbation  of  their  erecting  their  house.  He 
likewise  renewed  his  former  permission  to  allow  our 
company  to  remain  in  his  kingdom  to  labor  as  mis- 
sionaries. 

ARTICLE    XXXIX. 

Opposition   of  White   Men. 

THERE  was  a  clique  of  foreigners  whose  interest 
and  influence  it  was  to  have  the  reign  of  dark- 
ness continue,  and  who  opposed  the  missionaries  with 
all  their  power.  They  would  have  induced  the  king 
to  give  a  very  different  turn  to  affairs.  They  had  a 
withering  influence  on  his  downward  habits.  But  re- 
specting the  missionaries,  the  king  thought  with  manly 
independence.  He  said:  "Those  men  will  talk,  and 
talk,  and  talk ;  but  they  know  nothing  of  what  they 
are  talking  about." 

They  spread  wide  the  report  of  the  missionaries 
being  spies;  that  their  concealed  aim  was  to  take  the 
Islands ;  and  that  the  house  and  cellar  were  for  stor- 
ing firearms  and  ammunition.  Multiplied  were  the 
stories  put  in  circulation  of  seeing  articles  to  that  effect 
in  the  publications  of  the  day ;  of  vessels  of  war  being 
on  the  way,  when  they  would  arrive,  &c.  As  one 
story  failed,  two  more  would  be  fabricated.  Some 
discerning  natives  saw  through  the  fallacy  of  it,  and 
inquired:    "If  that  is  their  object,  why  did  they  bring 


1821.  59 

their  wives  and  children?"  The  missionaries  leaving 
it  to  Hopu  to  disabuse  the  native  mind,  attended  to 
their  own  business  like  as  soldiers  in  the  day  of  battle, 
whose  part  is  to  load  and  fire,  load  and  fire,  without 
attending-  to  the  rattling  of  musketry  on  the  side  of 
their  opponents.  When  company  after  company  came 
to  see  the  house,  having  much  to  say  about  guns  and 
powder,  Hopu  facetiously  warned  them,  "Don't  ap- 
proach so  near  as  to  be  injured  should  the  magazine 
explode !" 

ARTICLE    XL. 

The  Native  Orphan  Babe. 


M 


R.  and  Mrs.  Loomis  called  to  see  an  orphan  babe. 
Its  little  body  clothed  as  it  were  with  disease, 
was  reduced  to  a  very  skeleton.  Its  mother  only  lived 
to  give  it  birth.  Another  woman  after  having  charge 
of  it  four  months,  died  also.  Four  weeks  had  since 
worn  away.  The  child's  only  food  from  the  first  had 
been  fish  and  pot.  The  father,  a  white  man,  without 
exercising  the  least  care  for  the  child,  had  taken  a 
new  wife  and  gone  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  Island. 
The  woman  with  whom  it  lodged,  said  it  would  die. 
Airs.  Loomis  offered  to  take  it  if  she  would  give  it 
up  to  her  to  keep  as  her  own.  She,  with  tears,  imme- 
diately laid  the  afflicted,  forsaken  one  in  her  arms. 
By  the  faithful  care  of  Mrs.  Loomis  by  night  and  by 
day,  it  recovered  from  its  diseased  state,  and  was  be- 
ginning to  thrive.  But  a  more  fatal  disease  fixed  upon 
it,- — dropsy  in  the  head.  To  hear  the  groans  and  cries 
of  the  little  sufferer,  to  see  it  waving  its  little  hands, 
no  larger  than  those  of  a  new-born  infant,  was  very 
touching.  In  seven  weeks  from  the  time  of  its  admis- 
sion into  the  mission  family,  it  followed  its  mother  to 
the  "land  of  silence." 


ARTICLE    XLI. 

The  King's  Visit. 

AGAIN  the  king  made  us  a  call,  dressed  for  once 
like  a  gentleman,  with  ruffled  shirt,  silk  vest, 
pantaloons  and  coat.  How  he  moved  among  his  sub- 
jects with  all  the  nobility  of  a  king!  He  was  in  one 
of  his  very  best  moods.  Everything  we  did  was  good 
in  the  superlative  degree.  He  examined  the  house  and 
cellar  and  was  delighted.  He  wished  the  good  people 
of  America  to  send  him  a  house  three  stories  high ; 
one  story  in  which  to  worship  Jehovah,  as  by  and  by, 
in  five  years,  he  was  going  to  pray. 

He  wished  to  have  the  missionaries  learn  all  the 
Hawaiian  sounds,- — he  would  assist  them,  and  then 
books  and  prayers  in  the  native  language  could  be 
printed.  He  criticised  the  pronunciation  of  some 
dozen  words.  He  wished  to  know  how  far  his  favor- 
ite young  men  under  Mr.  Thurston  had  proceeded  in 
their  spelling  books  and  Testaments.  When  he  was 
shown,  and  had  looked  at  their  writing  books,  he  three 
times  expressed  how  very  sorry  he  was  that  he  had 
left  off  learning ;  felt  vexed  with  himself  for  so  doing. 
He  was  ashamed  to  begin  a  second  time,  and  many 
people  had  told  him  that  they  should  think  he  would 
be.  In  giving  his  aloha,  his  parting  address  was : 
"Don't  pray  for  rain  to-day,  because  we  are  going  to 
have  a  grand  dance." 


60 


ARTICLE   XLII. 

Mr.  Thurston  to  Mrs.  Thurston's  Father. 

Honolulu,  Oct.  7,  1821. 


Sire — 


When  I  take  up  my  pen  to  address  a  far  distant 
and  honored  friend,  a  thousand  thoughts  and  feelings 
rise  to  give  utterance.  I  think  I  hear  you  ask,  with  all 
the  tenderness  and  affection  of  a  father,  "Where  now 
is  Lucy; — what  new  and  trying  scenes  has  she  passed 
since  I  gave  her  the  parting  hand  and  the  last  look? 
Has  the  presence  of  Jesus  sustained  and  comforted 
her  in  times  of  affliction  and  distress?  Has  she  en- 
joyed the  smiles  of  the  covenant  God?"  Yes,  often 
have  we  had  occasion  to  speak  of  divine  goodness. 
Often  have  we  bent  the  knee  in  united  thanksgiving 
to  that  gracious  Savior,  to  whose  service  we  have 
sacredly  devoted  our  lives,  our  all.  But  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  28th  of  September,  we  had  occasion  to  sing 
of  special  mercies.  Through  the  interposition  of  the 
supporting  delivering  hand  of  our  heavenly  Father, 
Lucy  was  made  the  joyful  mother  of  a  fine  little 
daughter.  We  wept,  and  prayed,  and  rejoiced  to- 
gether over  this  new  accession  to  our  comfort  and 
care,  and  in  view  of  that  new  relation  which  we  now 
sustain  as  parents. 

Lucy  is  feeble.  A  slight  cough  has  newly  set  in, 
which  prevents  her  gaining  strength.  We  hope  it  may 
be  better  in  a  few  days.  If  it  should  not,  our  fears  for 
her  health  will  be  aroused.  We  have  no  physician,  for 
the  Dr.  and  his  wife  left  this  place  three  days  after  her 
confinement,  for  America.  Everything  is  done  for  her 
which  we  know  how  to  do.  She  is  now  taking  those 
medicines  which  she  used  when  in  America  under  her 

61 


62  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

father's  roof.  Our  only  hope  is  in  the  great  Physician, 
who  is  ever  with  his  servants  and  will  preserve  their 
lives  so  long  as  he  has  anything  for  them  to  do,  or 
during  all  the  days  of  their  appointed  time.  The  Lord 
will  do  right.  I  beg  you  not  to  be  distressed  on  her 
account. 

ARTICLE    XLIII. 

Sickness   and   Recovery. 

AGAIN  I  am  permitted  to  hold  my  pen,  which  I 
sometimes  thought  had  been  dropped  forever. 
When  in  a  very  weak  state,  a  very  slight  cough  com- 
menced and  increased.  I  knew  its  features.  It  seemed 
to  look  me  mockingly  in  the  face  and  say:  "I  have 
tracked  you  from  your  father's  house,  have  waited 
and  watched  my  opportunity,  when  I  could  best  seize 
upon,  and  become  your  victor."  My  state  became 
critical.  There  was  no  physician  in  the  kingdom.  But 
I  was  tenderly  nursed.  The  ladies  at  the  station  were 
kind,  but  such  were  their  circumstances  that  the  prin- 
cipal care  of  the  sick  room  devolved  on  Mr.  Thurston. 
He  was  equal  to  it,  even  as  a  mother  would  have  been. 
It  is  an  important  qualification  in  a  missionary  who 
goes  to  an  unenlightened  land,  well  to  understand  the 
beautiful  lesson  of  girding  himself  with  a  towel,  and 
being  able  with  skill  and  tenderness  to  wash  the  dis- 
ciples' feet.  When  I  became  convalescent,  it  was  said 
to  me :  "We  thought  we  should  lose  you  by  a  quick 
consumption."  Yet  I  have  again  the  promise  of  life, 
having  a  double  being  to  consecrate  to  the  Giver  and 
Preserver. 


KAUIKEAOULI 
KAMEHAMEHA  III 
As  a  young  boy  he  succeeded  his 
brother  Liholiho  in  1823.  An  en- 
graving in  Byron's  "Voyage  of  the 
Blonde."  The  "Blonde"  brought 
the  remains  of  Liholiho  and  Kama- 
malu,    who    had    died    in    England. 


ARTICLE    XLIY. 

The    Wooden    House    Finished    and    Occupied.      Visited    by    the    Royal 
Family.       Kaahumanu's    and    Kaumualu's    Marriage. 

THE  wooden  structure  had  been  reared  and  fin- 
ished, having  board  floors,  glass  windows,  and 
two  flights  of  stairs,  leading  the  one  up  chamber,  and 
the  other  down  cellar.  The  front  door  opened  into 
the  hall,  which  extended  through  the  house.  At  the 
right,  on  entering,  was  the  large  common  receiving 
room.  On  the  left,  my  own  private  apartment.  The 
two  back  rooms  on  either  side  of  the  hall  were  for  the 
accommodation  of  two  other  families.  The  table  was 
spread  in  the  basement,  and  the  cook-house  was  sepa- 
rated a  little  distance  from  the  house.  Our  families 
had  entered  and  made  it  our  home.  The  royal  party 
with  a  large  retinue  came  to  view  a  thing  so  unique. 
I  was  still  in  retirement,  but  they  must  see  all  that 
was  to  be  seen.  Of  course,  for  a  time,  my  room  was 
pretty  well  packed  with  the  grandees  of  the  nation. 
It  had  its  attractions.  There  was  their  white  teacher 
under  new  circumstances.  And  there  was  her  white 
infant,  neatly  dressed  in  white.  A  child  dressed! 
Wonderful,  most  wonderful ! !  To  witness  home 
scenes  and  the  manner  in  which  we  cherished  our 
children  seemed,  in  a  child-like  way,  to  draw  forth 
their  warmest  affections. 

Then  the  room !  It  was  lighted  up  with  two 
glass  windows.  The  floor  and  trimmings  were  painted. 
A  friend  gave  us  some  paper  to  cover  its  walls,  just 
such  as  he  happened  to  have,  delicate  and  gay, — its 
color  pink,  its  vines  tinsel.  How  eloquent  the  natives 
were  in  referring  to  their  own  naked  neglected  chil- 
dren, and  their  dark,  dingy,  thatched  huts ! 

The  royal  party,  closely  followed  by  their  large 


63 


64  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

retinue,  left  our  house  and  premises.  It  was  a  satis- 
factory interview.  What  happy  influences  from  it 
we  hoped  would  light  down  upon  our  opening  pros- 
pects !  But  behind  the  scenes  lay  a  sequel.  Mother- 
hood had  not  reached  the  point  of  endurance;  for  be- 
fore midnight  Mr.  Thurston  and  Mrs.  Chamberlain 
were  called  to  my  bedside,  to  stay  the  tide  of  fever 
and  delirium. 

It  was  also  a  memorable  night  to  two  personages 
of  the  royal  party.  It  is  a  custom  in  the  nation  that 
women,  and  girls  even,  become  leading  parties  in  pro- 
posing marriage.  Kaahumanu  and  Kaumualii,  while 
walking  to  the  mission  house,  touched,  for  the  first 
time  on  a  tender  subject.  Again  they  alluded  to  it 
while  reclining  beneath  the  shade  of  that  wooden 
structure.  While  returning  home  over  the  plain,  they 
conferred  upon  it  still  more  freely.  That  night  Kaa- 
humanu, associated  with  the  king  in  the  government 
of  Hawaii,  Maui,  Oahu,  &c,  and  Kaumualii,  tributary 
king  of  Kauai,  reclined  side  by  side  on  a  low  platform, 
eight  feet  square,  consisting  of  between  twenty  and 
thirty  beautiful  mats  of  the  finest  texture.  Then  a 
black  kapa  (native  cloth)  was  spread  over  them. 
The  significance  of  it  was,  it  pronounced  the  royal 
pair  to  be  husband  and  wife.  An  important  political 
union  was  likewise  peaceably  effected,  connecting  the 
windward  and  leeward  islands  under  one  crown. 
Hopu  was  present  and  witnessed  the  simple  ceremony 
so  full  of  meaning. 

ARTICLE    XLV. 

First  Introduction  of  a  Written  Language. 

AN  alphabet  of  twelve  letters  was  fixed  upon  which 
would  give  every  sound  in  the  pure  Hawaiian 
dialect.     In  one  vear  and  nine  months  after  the  mis- 


1822.  65 

sionaries  left  the  brig  Thaddeus,  a  Hawaiian  spelling 
book  was  issued  from  the  press.  The  chiefs  received 
it  with  deep  interest ;  the  schools  with  enthusiasm. 
Writing  letters  in  the  native  language  was  soon  intro- 
duced. A  door  was  now  opened  which  allowed  learn- 
ing to  become  general. 

Gov.  Cox,  of  Maui,  brother  of  Kaahumanu, 
dreamed  that  he  saw  the  whole  island  on  fire,  and  all 
the  water  in  the  surrounding  sea  could  not  quench  the 
flames.  He  sought  for  safety,  but  in  vain — he  could 
rind  no  shelter.  Awaking  in  horror,  his  heart  turned 
to  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries ;  how  they  told 
of  escaping  destruction  by  a  Savior.  In  the  evening 
he  sent  a  messenger  for  two  missionaries  to  come  to 
him.  A  goodly  number  of  chiefs  were  there,  many  of 
whom  were  lying  on  the  mat  learning  to  spell  or  read, 
and  some  to  write.  Gov.  Cox  communicated  to  the 
missionaries  the  cause  of  his  inquietude,  and  sought 
instruction.  They  preached  to  him  of  Jesus,  and  fer- 
vently prayed  for  his  salvation  and  that  of  his  people. 
They  were  requested  to  come  again  in  the  morning  at 
daylight,  to  conduct  family  worship. 

In  the  morning  more  than  sixty  natives  of  rank 
were  there  assembled,  and  all  behaved  with  an  effect- 
ing decorum,  rarely  seen  at  public  services.  Thus, 
evening  and  morning  the  missionaries  continued  to 
repair  to  his  house,  to  teach  and  to  assist  him  in  estab- 
lishing family  worship,  which  he  said  he  was  deter- 
mined should  daily  be  performed  under  his  roof.  He 
said,  "others  might  do  as  they  pleased,  but  he  should 
have  all  people  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  to  un- 
derstand the  good  Word."  So  he  not  only  opened  his 
own  house  for  the  worship  of  God,  but  for  school  in- 
struction for  himself  and  others. 

Gov.  Cox's  example  produced  happy  effects.  A 
multitude  flocked  to  attend  public  worship,  headed  by 


66  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

kings  and  chiefs,  on  whose  movements  under  God 
hung  suspended  the  interests  of  the  nation.  The  prin- 
cipal characters,  almost  without  exception,  together 
with  a  throng  of  common  people,  united  in  the  cry, 
"Give  us  books.  Give  us  teachers."  This  new  im- 
pulse called  to  exercise  all  the  energies  of  the  mission. 
Scholars  from  the  school  already  established  at  our 
house,  afforded  important  aid  in  instructing  the  peo- 
ple. Three  chiefs  of  magnificent  stature  and  lofty 
bearing  came  to  the  mission  house  for  a  teacher.  All 
were  already  employed,  down  to  George,  six  years  old, 
a  native  child  that  had  been  given  to  me.  He  pos- 
sessed a  good  mind,  was  an  English  scholar,  had  been 
thoroughly  instructed,  and  was  perfect  in  his  Hawai- 
ian lessons.  One  of  the  chiefs  placed  the  little  fellow 
on  his  shoulder,  and  bore  him  away  in  triumph,  say- 
ing, "This  is  my  teacher."  He  proved  to  be  efficient, 
and  manfully,  with  much  pleasure,  continued  to  repair 
twice  to  their  place  daily. 

The  king  sent  for  one  hundred  spelling  books,  to 
give  to  his  friends  and  attendants  who  were  destitute, 
and  gave  commandment  to  have  his  five  wives  learn 
both  to  read  and  write.  In  consequence  of  which, 
some  of  his  servants  came  to  us  to  borrow  tables  and 
chairs  for  the  accommodation  of  those  high  ladies  at 
their  lessons  in  this  new  and  wonderful  art. 

ARTICLE    XL VI. 

The  American   Deacon. 

WE  were  on  terms  of  social  intercourse  with  our 
foreign  neighbors.  One  afternoon,  three  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  influential  were  invited  to  sit  with 
us  at  tea.    One  was  an  officer  of  the  American  govern- 


1822.  67 

ment.  two  were  captains  of  merchant  ships.  They 
were  all,  with  -each  other,  congenial  spirits.  Hand 
joined  in  hand. 

After  they  were  seated  in  the  midst  of  our  circle, 
conversation  flowed  readily.  Captain  D.,  who  was  the 
very  life  of  society,  never  at  a  loss  for  a  theme,  even 
though  it  involved  a  boon  companion,  thus  ventilated 
his  ideas.  "/  never  acknowledge  the  claims  of  a  Supe- 
rior Power.  I  am  my  own,  and  have  my  liberty  to  do 
just  as  I  please,  and  to  seek  my  own  happiness  in  my 
own  way.  It  is  proper  for  me  to  do  so.  But  when  I 
see  a  man  at  home,  on  sacramental  occasions,  carrying 
around  a  silver  platter,  then,  in  coming  round  here,  I 
say  he  has  no  right  to  live  like  us  poor  sinners.  He 
knew  where  the  remark  fitted,  and  so  did  captain  E., 
(at  home  called  Deacon  E.,)  who  sat  at  his  left  hand. 
He  had  the  grace  to  blush,  and  left  the  room  to  re- 
cover in  the  open  air  from  his  confusion. 

[Sometime  after  captain  E.,  alias  Deacon  E.,  re- 
ceived a  private  letter  of  admonition  from  the  body  of 
missionaries.  The  purport  of  some  part  of  it  was 
this:  "If  a  standard  bearer  of  the  church  plunge  with 
his  own  hand  the  banner  of  his  great  Captain  in  the 
slimy  mire  of  the  streets,  and  thus  trail  it  along,  a 
dishonored  and  contemptible  thing,  his  own  church 
ought  to  know  it." 

He  felt  something  now  besides  blushes.  The 
whole  man  was  moved.  He  repaired  to  the  mission 
house,  with  a  comrade,  entered  unbidden,  and  forced 
his  way  through  different  apartments,  to  the  private 
bedroom  of  a  missionary.  There,  in  the  presence  of 
his  wife,  he  brandished  his  heavy  cane  like  a  mad  man, 
and  with  fury  gave  utterance  to  his  own  expressive 
language.  "Apologize  for  that  letter,  or  I'll  kill  you. 
I  have  a  family  at  home  that  I  respect,  and  I  am  not 
a  going  to  have  information  conveyed  to  the  ears  of 
mv  church." 


68  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

No  apology  was  made,  and  no  murder  committed. 
It  was  simply  a  threatening,  boisterous  interview  of 
two  hours'  continuance.  The  feeble  wife  of  the  mis- 
sionary, who  was  just  rising  from  a  critical  illness,  in 
which  she  had  been  three  months  confined  to  her 
couch,  was  completely  prostrated.  The  little  daugh- 
ter of  five  summers,  who  saw  it  all,  asked  why  it  was 
that  natives  were  so  kind  to  her  father,  and  white 
men  so  cruel. 

No  obstruction  was  placed  in  the  way  of  the  cap- 
tain, alias  Deacon,  from  brushing  up  his  professional 
coat  in  rounding  Cape  Horn,  and  returning  to  exercise 
his  spiritual  functions  in  his  own  church.  He  would 
be  sustained  by  his  adult  son,  his  companion  in  travels 
and  sojourn.  For  the  son  well  knew  that  the  father 
could  turn  upon  him  and  say :  "Keep  close,  for  /  can 
make  disclosures  respecting  you." 

ARTICLE    XLVH. 

Interview  with   a   Sea  Captain. 

AN  intelligent  sea  captain  called  on  us,  an  old  fa- 
miliar acquaintance  of  ours.  He  spoke  most  de- 
cidedly on  the  subject  that  no  permanent  good  could 
be  effected  among  these  islanders.  I  directed  his  at- 
tention to  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  the 
South  Sea  Islands  through  missionary  effort.  He 
seemed  to  understand  the  nature  of  many  of  our  se- 
verest trials,  and  said  "that  the  debasing  influence  of 
the  many  foreigners  that  touched  here,  was  an  in- 
superable obstacle  to  the  conversion  of  this  people." 
I  freely  acknowledged  how  keenly  trials  were  felt 
from  that  quarter,  but  told  him  that  they  had  no  ten- 
dency to  cause  the  missionaries  to  give  up.  "Oh,  he 
had  no  objections  to  instructing  the  natives ;  thought, 


1822.  69 

indeed,  that  it  was  very  well ;  but  men  ought  to  do  it, 
without  subjecting  ladies  to  the  trials  of  this  heathen 
land."  Although  he  belonged  to  the  same  class  as 
those  to  whom  I  alluded,  I  could  not  forbear  saying 
that  if  the  ladies  had  accomplished  no  other  good, 
they  had  been  the  means  of  securing  a  footing  for 
their  husbands,  as  some  of  our  American  friends  had 
agreed  that  they  would  drive  every  missionary  from 
the  Islands,  were  it  not  that  they  so  much  respected 
the  feelings  of  the  ladies.  We  both  smiled,  and  were 
both  willing  to  change  the  subject. 

ARTICLE    XLVIII. 

The   First   Christian   Marriage. 

HOPU,  in  visiting  the  back  part  of  Maui  with  the 
king,  was  particularly  attracted  by  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  land.  When  he  returned  to  Hono- 
lulu, he  brought  to  our  cottage  the  girl  of  eighteen, 
wishing  to  commit  her  to  me  for  special  training.  He 
said :  "As  the  Almighty  has  excited  in  my  heart  such 
strong  yearnings  for  her,  I  think  it  is  his  will  that  I 
marry  her."  I  therefore  received  her  as  the  betrothed 
wife  of  our  beloved  Hopu.  A  little  cottage  for  her 
accommodation  was  erected  near  our  own,  and  for 
more  than  a  year  she  became  my  pupil  and  close  com- 
panion. As  she  developed,  she  exhibited  a  rare  char- 
acter among  her  fellows.  Private  domestic  life  was 
congenial  to  her  native  taste,  in  apposition  to  free  and 
open  publicity.  Amiable,  piously  disposed,  with  a 
warm  heart,  ever  open  to  receive  instruction,  she  daily 
did  much,  very  much,  to  promote  my  happiness.  At 
length,  Hopu  felt  that  she  had  been  sufficiently  in- 
structed to  warrant  his  leading  her  to  the  hymeneal 
altar.  Their  marriage  was  publicly  solemnized  in  the 
church.      The   king  and  principal   chiefs   were  there. 


70  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

Hopu  appeared  as  usual  in  his  gentlemanly  black  suit. 
By  his  side  stood  Delia,  dressed  in  a  style  that  raised 
her  to  his  standard.  To  her  complete  and  fashionable 
dress  in  white,  was  added  a  trimmed  straw  bonnet.  It 
was  the  first  native  woman's  head  that  had  been  thus 
crowned.  All  seemed  pleased,  and  after  the  services 
were  over,  shook  the  new-made  pair  most  cordially  by 
the  hand,  giving  their  aloha. 

ARTICLE    XLIX. 

Mr.    Thurston.      About   to    Sail   with   the   King. 

Honolulu,  Oct.  20,  1822. 

My  dear,  dear  Husband: 

Your  tender  farewell  note  I  have  just  received. 
My  feelings  prompt  me  to  reply.  Yes,  the  same  Provi- 
dence which,  in  a  mysterious  manner,  connected  and 
placed  us  in  the  missionary  field,  has  now  called  us, 
for  the  first  time,  to  separate.  I  truly  rejoice  in  the 
prospect  of  your  contemplated  short  excursion,  view- 
ing it  as  placing  you  in  a  situation  to  facilitate  your 
gathering  up,  and  becoming  master  of  this  unwritten 
language.  Still  this  heart  will  keenly  feel  the  absence 
of  such  a  friend;  of  such  a  husband.  I  shall  find  an 
unspeakable  happiness  in  often  commending  you  to 
Him,  who  has  promised  to  be  with  His  devoted  serv- 
ants. The  little  concert  at  nine,  I  shall  regard  with 
peculiar  interest.  You  assure  me  of  your  prayers. 
How'  comforting  the  reflection !  I  hope  you  will  be 
unwearied  in  your  daily  efforts  to  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  language,  and  that  you  will  not 
too  long  delay  addressing  the  people,  independently 
of  an  interpreter,  though  with  a  stammering  tongue. 


1822.  71 

I  shall  make  my  little  room  as  pleasant  as  I  can, 
and  devote  my  attention  to  the  needle,  the  pen,  the  lan- 
guage, the  school,  and  our  dear  little  one.  She  will  be 
a  great  comfort  to  me,  and  help  to  cheer  many  a  pen- 
sive hour.  Oh,  for  wisdom  to  govern  her  aright !  I 
shall  think  much  of  you,  and  the  privations  you  are 
called  to  suffer  in  the  cause  of  Him  who  had  not 
where  to  lay  His  head.  May  He  comfort  you  by  His 
presence,  and  make  you  instrumental  of  bringing  many 
to  a  knowledge  of  that  salvation  which  He  died  to 
purchase.     Adieu.  Your  loving  Wife. 


ARTICLE    L. 

The  One  Eyed  Scholar. 

I  HAD  a  scholar  about  eight  years  of  age.  Her  erect 
figure,  clear  smooth  skin,  regular  features,  slightly 
curling  hair,  and  full  black  eye,  with  the  long  black 
fringes  of  its  covering,  made  her  a  good  specimen  of 
the  loveliness  of  childhood. 

But  the  beauty  of  that  fine  production  of  nature 
was  marred  by  violence.  The  ball  of  her  right  eye 
had  been  scooped  out  entirely,  so  that  the  full  orbed 
eye  of  death  in  its  gentle  sleep,  was  far  less  revolting 
than  that  concave  appearance. 

"My  child,  how  did  you  lose  your  eye" 

"I  ate  a  banana." 

She  could  not  have  been  more  than  five  years  old 
when  the  idols  were  destroyed.  Had  she  been  of  ma- 
ture years,  her  life  would  have  been  taken.  The 
priests  taught  the  people  that  breaking  kapu  would 
be  visited  by  the  gods  with  death.  Yet  they  were  very 
assiduous  in  keeping  spies  abroad  in  the  land,  to  ob- 


72  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

tain  a  knowledge  of  facts,  that  they  themselves  might 
bring  vengeance  on  the  unwary. 

ARTICLE    LI. 

Welcome  to  Mrs.  Bishop. 

Honolulu,  April  27,  1823. 
S  it  possible  that  in  the  long  expected  Mrs.  Bishop, 


I 


I  am  to  find  my  much  loved  friend  Elizabeth  Ed- 
wards.* I  was  overcome  by  the  first  intelligence.  Wel- 
come, doubly  welcome  to  the  warmest  affections  and 
sympathies  of  this  heart,  to  the  comfort  and  privileges 
of  this  establishment,  to  the  pleasures,  toils,  and  work 
of  missionary  life.  How  I  long  to  embrace  you — to 
receive  precious  intelligence  from  my  dear  friends  and 
native  country — and  to  tell  you  how  gracious  the  Lord 
has  been  in  two  days  ago  bringing  me  to  this  bed  of 
confinement  and  comfort,  laying  in  my  fond  arms  an- 
other precious  treasure,  another  daughter.  Much  love 
to  each  individual  of  your  dear  female  band.  I  shall 
anticipate  an  early  interview  with  feelings  more  easily 
felt  than  expressed.       Very  affectionately, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON, 
ARTICLE    LII. 

Merchant  and  Missionary  Lady. 

MRS.  Loomis  was  one  day  walking  on  the  wide 
path  of  the  plain  near  the  mission  house  at  Ho- 
nolulu. A  village  merchant,  who  had  in  a  social  man- 
ner been  admitted  to  our  social  board,  approached  on 

*She  belonged  to  my  native  town,  and  with  sister  Persis  and  my- 
self went  forty  miles  and  attended  Bradford  Academy.  We  boarded  in 
the  same  family,  and  occupied  the  same  chamber.  Mr.  Bishop  said  that 
Mrs.  Bishop  and  myself  were  so  much  alike  in  our  ideas  and  plans,  he 
thought  we   were  both   born   under   one  planet. 


1823.  73 

horseback.  That  was  his  season  of  relaxation,  and 
there  was  an  opportunity  of  exciting  healthy,  pleas- 
urable emotions.  So  he  guided  his  high  mettled  steed 
Inward  the  lady,  to  go  just  as  near  as  possible  without 
collision.  He  wanted  to  give  her  a  start.  Her  bonnet 
and  shawl,  and  high  trade  winds,  and  the  merchant, 
and  the  merchant's  horse,  were  too  much  for  her. 
The  first  she  knew  she  was  prostrate  on  the  ground, 
and  her  whole  person  was  exposed  to  the  tramp  of 
hoofs. 

There  was  no  police,  no  courts  of  justice,  no 
standard  of  public  opinion.  Every  one  did  what  was 
right  in  his  own  eyes. 

Well,  the  lady  had  a  start  as  was  intended.  She 
was.  in  fact,  thoroughly  frightened.  Yet,  in  mercy  to 
us  all,  her  life  was  spared.  She  was  confined  for  a 
season  to  her  bed,  to  woo  nature  to  the  slow  process 
of  obliterating  injuries,  which  violence  was  so  quick 
to  give.  Her  suffering  husband  and  two  infant  chil- 
dren, long  continued  to  see  day  open  and  close  upon 
them,  without  the  cheering  activities  of  the  wife  and 
mother. 

As  the  merchant's  recklessness  proved  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  joke,  he  expressed  his  sorrow  and 
sympathy  by  presenting  to  the  lady  a  shawl.  A  shawl ! 
How  many  of  the  down-trodden  women  of  the  land 
were  lured  into  sin  for  a  like  reward !  And  the  wife 
of  a  man  of  holy  calling  was  trifled  with,  and  received 
a  similar  gift. 


ARTICLE    LIII. 

Scenes  on   a   Native  Vessel. 

IN  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1823,  we  again  em- 
barked on  board  a  native  vessel,  as  we  were  desig- 
nated by  the  mission  to  re-occupy  the  station  at  Kai- 
lua.  Naihe  and  Kapiolani,  principal  chiefs,  were  on 
board  and  extended  over  us  a  paternal  care.  We  were 
always  invited,  and  usually  partook  with  them  at  their 
meals.  To  be  sure  the  style  and  manner,  in  their  pres- 
ent circumstances,  was  not  altogether  such  as  would 
meet  the  most  fastidious  taste  and  appetite.  When 
the  faithful  half  clad  servant  so  kindly  cleansed  a 
bowl  on  the  flap  of  his  only  garment,  in  which  to  pre- 
pare some  tea,  lading  in  the  sugar  with  an  unsparing 
hand,  and  crumbling  in  the  sea  bread  with  his  teeth, 
I  could  not  do  else  than  receive  and  drink  it,  saying 
nothing  for  conscience'  sake ! 

We  were  accommodated  in  the  cabin.  It  is  im- 
possible to  tell  how  often  the  pipe  came  along,  passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  from  lip  to  lip,  and  the  room  be- 
came perfumed  with  all  that  is  odorous  in  tobacco 
smoke,  rising  and  issuing  from  their  mouths  as  from 
a  chimney.  Then  the  containers  for  food  were  intro- 
duced, and  the  most  nauseating  messes  of  fish  laid 
open.  But  when  the  group,  sitting  upon  their  heels, 
encircling  the  dish,  sucked  their  besmeared  ringers, 
and  smacked  their  lips  with  so  much  apparent  gusto, 
the  result  might  perhaps  prove  that  my  senses  of  sight 
and  smell  were  at  fault.  This  I  can  state  for  certainty, 
the  annoying  cockroaches,  which  gathered  in  such 
swarms  around  every  corner  of  my  berth,  now  and 
then  took  such  liberties  as  to  make  me  start.  During 
the  night  the  natives  kept  dropping  in  till  the  cabin 


74 


1823.  75 

was  crowded.  With  dead-lights  closed,  so  much  heat 
and  such  confined  air,  it  seemed  almost  suffocating. 
Disregarding  quietude,  even  during  the  hours  when 
nature  calls  for  rest,  their  united  songs  and  chit-chat, 
went  to  form  a  prolonged  clamor.  Such  were  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  we  were  called  to  resign  our- 
selves to  sea-sickness ;  such  the  state  in  which  two 
little  ones  were  demanding  the  care  and  sympathy  by 
night  and  by  day;  yet  had  circumstances  permitted,  I 
should  myself  have  been  laid  prostrate.  I  survived  the 
voyage :  nor  with  all  my  sufferings  did  I  once  dream 
it  otherwise,  save  when  in  all  the  gloom  of  midnight, 
a  tumult  on  deck  would  arouse  us  from  short  "dis- 
turbed repose,"  with  apprehensions  that  the  vessel 
was  foundering.  What  the  captain's  knowledge  and 
skill  were,  I  knew  not;  but  judging  by  external  ap- 
pearance, he  was  on  a  level  with  the  lowest  sailor  be- 
fore the  mast.  He  was  the  only  white  man  on  board 
beside  Mr.  Thurston ;  but  there  was  a  deck  completely 
covered  with  men,  women,  children,  dogs  and  puppies, 
of  whose  aid  in  case  of  any  emergency  or  real  danger, 
I  suppose  there  would  not  be  much  choice. 

After  being  out  four  dreadful  nights  from  Hono- 
lulu, we  reached  Lahaina.  It  was  as  the  haven  of  rest, 
for  I  was  almost  exhausted.  Mrs.  Richards  pro- 
nounced me  as  looking  more  ill  than  when  on  a  bed 
of  sickness.  By  the  kind  attentions  of  our  friends  I 
revived,  and  in  the  united  families  of  Messrs.  Stew- 
art and  Richards,  we  spent  a  week  long  to  be  remem- 
bered. But  the  sweets  of  friendship  and  Christian  in- 
tercourse were  again  to  be  exchanged  for  the  trials  of 
the  vessel.  To  reach  it  we  were  necessarily  accommo- 
dated in  a  single  canoe.  Mr.  Thurston  took  charge  of 
the  elder  child,  and  the  younger  fell  to  me.  On  my 
first  entering  the  canoe,  my  feet  became  completely 


76  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

drenched  with  water.  A  piece  of  wood  that  crossed 
the  top  I  accepted  as  a  seat,  and  thankful  I  was  that 
my  strength  held  out,  thus  to  poise  myself,  and  retain 
my  grasp  of  the  struggling  babe,  until  reaching  the 
far  off  vessel.  There  after  a  few  hours  spent  in  ad- 
justing our  things  and  getting  out  to  sea,  everything 
seemed  as  perfectly  natural  as  though  we  had  not  seen 
Lahaina.  The  next  afternoon  we  were  safely  anchored 
off  Kailua.  An  English  vessel  had  arrived  a  little  be- 
fore us,  bringing  the  king.  The  captain  kindly  offered 
a  boat  for  our  accommodation,  and  we  reached  the 
shore  a  few  minutes  after  his  majesty.  He  had  ad- 
vanced a  short  distance,  and  stood  fixed  a  little  way 
from  his  circled  multitude  of  subjects,  long  recipro- 
cating their  loud  and  affectionate  wailings. 

The  governor's  attention  being  directed  to  the 
king,  we  were  thrown  on  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Young, 
who  introduced  us  to  a  house  belonging  to  the  gov- 
ernor, and  ordered  coffee,  fresh  fish  and  potatoes  to 
be  set  before  us.  Mr.  Thurston's  writing  desk  and 
dressing  case  were  placed  together  upon  the  mat,  mak- 
ing a  neat  little  table.  It  was  completely  covered  with 
dishes,  and  not  a  vacant  plate  or  utensil,  save  Mr. 
Thurston's  ever  present  helper,  which  he  drew  from 
his  side  pocket.  We  sat  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  most 
comforting  repast,  on  the  mat,  holding  conversation 
with  Mr.  Young,  who  sat  at  a  little  distance,  ever 
watchful  to  give  commands  to  the  waiting  attendants. 

The  king  made  us  a  call,  and  mentioned  his  early 
intention  of  visiting  in  person  England  and  America. 

The  evening  closed  upon  us  in  peace.  We  spread 
our  bed  upon  the  mat,  gave  our  aloha  to  the  last  lin- 
gering native,  and  once  more  enjoyed  undisturbed 
solitude   and   repose.      Early  the   next  morning   Mr. 


1823.  77 

Thurston  went  on  board  the  vessel,  and  spent  most  of 
the  day  in  landing  our  effects,  and  placing  them  in  a 
building  assigned  us  by  the  governor.  With  my  two 
babes  and  two  boys,  I  remained  a  spectacle  for  the 
rude  throng  which  pressed  around  the  door.  That 
evening  we  were  enabled  to  spread  our  own  table  be- 
neath what  we  might  transiently  be  allowed  to  call  our 
own  roof. 

ARTICLE    LIV. 

Trials   of   Taking  a   New   Station. 

IN  consequence  of  my  distressing  voyage  to  Kailua, 
and  the  subsequent  trials  of  getting  settled,  pulmo- 
nary symptoms  were  again  induced.  Our  dwelling 
was  not  privileged  with  a  yard.  Of  course  our  doors 
and  premises  were  thronged  with  natives  from  morn- 
ing till  night.  Had  I  been  thus  situated  without  do- 
mestic duties  to  perform,  I  could  have  mingled  with 
the  multitude  and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  their  lan- 
guage and  character.  But  I  was  reduced  in  health, 
with  two  babes,  the  elder  fast  picking  up  language, 
and  receiving  permanent  impressions.  Every  one  ex- 
perienced in  the  nursery  knows  how  little  it  comports 
with  the  feelings  and  active  spirit  of  the  child  to  be 
abridged  the  pleasure  of  walking  abroad,  to  be  impris- 
oned within  walls  where  no  prospect  is  enjoyed,  no 
cheering  ray  of  light  admitted,  except  from  two  doors 
at  one  end,  almost  continually  half  darkened  by  na- 
tives, with  whom  it  is  not  allowed  to  have  intercourse. 
Many  days  were  almost  exclusively  spent  in  directing 
our  child's  attention  so  as  to  shield  it  from  danger. 
It  was  this,  which,  in  feelings,  caused  the  cottage  to 
become  the  dungeon,  and  home  the  heathen  world. 
At    Honolulu,    the    key    note    had    already    been 


78  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

struck ;  "children  in  childhood  must  be  sent  to  Amer- 
ica or  be  ruined."  My  response  was,  "Make  better 
provision  for  them,  or  such  will  probably  be  the  re- 
sult."   And  deep  in  my  heart  was  engraved  the  motto 

"God    helps    those    who    help    themselves." 

In  this  season  of  great  distress  came  the  news  of 
a  death,  which  sank  into  my  heart.  I  had  no  longer 
a  father  on  earth  to  pray  for  me  in  my  struggles. 


ARTICLE    LV. 

Plan   for   Pioneer   Missionary's   House   on   Hawaii. 

AT  noon-day  a  person  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep 
well,  by  looking  up,  will  see  stars.  I  felt  as  if 
at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  well,  and  in  dark,  sleepless, 
suffering  midnight  hours,  I  could  obtain  distinct  and 
far-reaching  views  of  what  a  pioneer  missionary's 
home  ought  to  be.  It  should  consist  of  three  distinct 
departments,  so  closely  connected,  that  one  lady  could 
superintend  them  all.  One  department  should  be 
for  children,  one  for  household  natives,  and  one  for 
native  company.  Let  each  class  know  its  place,  and 
the  whole  move  on  without  collision.  To  a  lady,  such 
an  arrangement  would  invite  to  efficient  activities  in 
health,  and  to  repose  in  sickness.  It  would  inspire  and 
enable  her  to  attempt  great  things,  and  to  expect  great 
things. 

ARTICLE    LVI. 

Funeral  of  Hopu's  Father. 

SELDOM  do  I  see  a  native  whose  hair  is  silvered 
with  age.     How  conspicuous  then  that  mercy  that 
preserved  the  life  of  Hopu's  father  four-score  years, 


1824.  79 

till  a  son  long-  absent  should  return  from  a  foreign 
country,  bringing  the  news  of  a  Savior!  The  son,  in 
teaching  his  aged  father,  was  instant  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  faithful  and  persevering.  The  father,  docile 
and  humble  as  a  little  child,  lovingly  received  Jesus 
into  his  heart,  and  longed  for  future  blessedness. 

Hopu  exhibited  a  bright  example  of  filial  piety. 
He  caused  a  brother  to  bring  his  father  from  a  distant 
part  of  the  island,  so  as  to  reside  near  him.  As  a  spe- 
cimen of  that  care  which  he  continually  exercised  in 
supplying  both  his  temporal  and  spiritual  wants  during 
the  period  he  was  called  to  conduct  family  prayers  at 
the  governor's,  together  with  maintaining  them  with 
his  own  household,  he  would  still  regularly  go  back 
to  the  little  hut,  to  pray  with,  comfort  and  instruct 
his  "poor  old  father."  Nor  did  he  cease  till  after 
kneeling  in  prayer  by  his  sick  and  lowly  couch,  he 
looked,  and  beheld  the  spirit  had  fled.  For  four  years 
he  had  been  permitted  to  teach  him  in  the  school  of 
Christ.     All  was  now  at  an  end. 

He  wrapped  the  body  in  a  white  kapa  and  en- 
closed it  in  a  decent  black  coffin  made  with  his  own 
hands.  The  bell  tolled.  As  Mr.  Thurston  and  myself 
reached  Hopu's  cottage,  two  natives  advanced  bearing 
the  coffin.  Hopu  and  his  wife  appeared,  habited  in 
black.  We  all  entered  the  church.  With  that  curi- 
osity which  novelty  inspires,  a  large  concourse  of  peo- 
ple assembled.  They  appeared  wild  and  fidgety  as  I 
never  before  saw  them.  Mr.  Thurston  addressed  them 
from  the  words,  "Prepare  to  meet  thy  God."  We  then 
proceeded  to  the  place  of  interment,  in  the  yard  back  of 
the  church.  It  was  the  first  grave  ever  opened  on  the 
island  of  Hawaii  to  receive  the  remains  of  a  fellow 
mortal,  over  whom  Christian  rites  were  performed. 
Never  did  a  similar  scene  inspire  me  with  sensations 
7 


80  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

so  awfully  solemn.  The  sun  was  fast  sinking  beneath 
the  horizon.  The  eager  multitude  of  untaught  natives 
closed  in,  and  so  encircled  the  spot  as  to  leave  no  way 
of  retreat.  As  we  looked  down  into  the  grave,  a 
human  skull  was  seen,  as  if  to  remind  us  of  the  gen- 
erations which  had  been  swept  away  all  in  the  dark- 
ness of  nature.  After  a  short  address  to  the  people 
by  Hopu,  and  a  short  prayer  by  Mr.  Thurston,  those 
two  sons,  Hopu  and  his  brother,  with  their  own  hands 
let  down  the  coffin  containing  all  that  was  left  of  their 
aged  father,  and  covered  it  deep  in  the  bosom  of 
Mother  Earth.  No  one  turned  to  retire  till  the  mouth 
of  the  grave  was  closed. 

Hitherto  it  had  been  the  practice  of  burying  their 
dead  in  the  night,  to  escape  the  ridicule  of  being  hooted 
at,  and  asked  whether  they  had  a  pig  for  sale,  and 
such  like  raillery. 

ARTICLE    LVII. 

Secluded   Life  of  the   Ladies.      The    Sick   Woman. 

DURING  the  first  few  years  of  missionary  life,  the 
ladies  were  limited  to  the  free  use  of  their  own 
houses  and  yards.  To  go  beyond  domestic  premises,, 
like  prisoners  or  like  queens,  they  must  have  an  escort, 
and  proceed  with  limited  freedom. 

When  a  nation  of  drunkards  became,  as  it  were, 
one  great  temperance  society,  and  a  holy  influence  was 
distilled  from  on  high,  a  king  in  his  power  and  woman 
in  her  weakness,  recognized  a  body-guard  lining  all 
our  streets,  and  wherever  man  was  found. 

It  was  after  a  residence  of  four  and  a  half  years, 
that  for  the  first  time  I  walked  alone  through  the  vil- 
lage  and   thus    soliloquized:     Whence   this    freedom?' 


1824.  81 

Where  am  I?  I  can  identify  the  scenery.  The  trees 
and  the  mountains  are  the  same,  but  the  people, — how 
different ! 

Soon  my  attention  was  arrested  by  a  loud  wail 
which  burst  forth  from  a  hut  on  a  little  eminence. 
Like  as  a  bird,  loosed  from  its  cage,  goes  fitting  from 
bough  to  bough,  so  with  all  the  freedom  of  thought 
and  action  I  directed  my  steps  thither.  On  reaching 
the  house,  I  was  told  that  a  woman  had  just  died  with- 
in. Revolting  as  seemed  to  be  that  dark  abode  of 
death,  without  a  window,  with  a  solitary  low  door, 
requiring  a  half  double  stoop,  I  entered.  A  passage 
was  at  once  made  through  the  crowd,  inviting  me  to 
proceed  to  the  farther  end  of  the  hut.  There  lay  a 
woman  apparently  lifeless,  stretched  across  the  laps 
of  six  women,  three  on  each  side.  On  examination, 
I  found  she  still  had  a  pulse.  Assuming  the  tone  of 
direction,  so  acceptable  to  common  natives,  I  said : 
"Hush,  retire,  admit  the  air — she  will  revive."  The 
crowd  immediately  withdrew,  and  nothing  more  was 
heard  but  now  and  then  a  half  stifled  sob.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  supposed  dead  one  opened  her  eyes.  On 
me,  standing  over  her,  swinging  a  fan,  she  fixed  a 
placid  look;  joined  noses  with  those  in  whose  arms 
she  lay,  and  remained  silent,  the  tears  trickling  down 
her  cheeks.  I  asked  for  something  to  give,  to  revive 
her ;  the  house  afforded  nothing  but  a  calabash  of 
poi  and  a  tobacco  pipe.  Her  husband,  seeing  her  in 
a  fainting  fit,  and  knowing  that  some  comforts  were 
wanted,  had  taken  the  calabash  and  hastened  back  to 
the  mountain,  a  distance  of  two  miles,  for  a  draught 
of  fresh  water.  I  obtained  a  cordial  from  my  own 
home.  The  sick  woman  received  it  with  gratitude, 
and  was  soon  able  to  sit  up  and  converse.  She  had 
long  been  ill,  but  that  morning  had  been  suddenly  laid 
prostrate.     She  had  several  times  been  to  the  church, 


82  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

built  by  the  governor,  where  the  new  religion  was 
taught;  but  she  never  got  near  enough  to  hear  any- 
thing, the  doors  and  windows  were  so  crowded. 

I  returned  home  joyful  and  with  a  glad  heart. 
After  a  long  night  of  privation  and  darkness,  light 
and   freedom  had  dawned  upon  my  pathway. 

ARTICLE    LVIII. 

Description   of  Kailua   and   Our   New   Home. 

T J  AW  All   is  the  largest  island  of   the  group,  and 

*■  *■  Kailua,  on  its  western  coast  was  the  most  im- 
portant spot  for  a  missionary  station.  This  village 
contained  three  thousand  inhabitants,  and  along  the 
coast  within  twenty  miles  were  twenty  thousand.  It 
had  been  the  favorite  abode  of  the  kings  of  Hawaii, 
and  the  governor  of  the  island  still  lived  there. 

On  the  mountain  Hualalai,  just  back  of  Kailua, 
is  a  large  crater.  It  is  now  extinct.  But  our  old  people 
tell  us  of  the  time  in  their  childhood,  when  they  were 
aroused  from  their  midnight  slumbers,  to  see  red  hot 
balls  hurled  into  the  air  from  out  the  crater  on  this 
mountain.  Torrents  of  molten  lava  flowed  from  cra- 
ter to  coast,  extended  the  shore  farther  out  into  the 
sea,  and  encrusted  the  surface  of  the  earth,  besides 
leaving  an  abundance  of  large  loose  scoria?,  tossed 
about  in  every  direction. 

Along  the  coast  for  two  miles  back,  it  is  sterile; 
but  there  is  a  belt  that  is  very  rich,  about  a  mile  wide 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  which  is  dotted  here  and 
there  with  the  kukui,  breadfruit  and  orange,  all  splen- 
did trees ;  of  smaller  growth,  pine  apple,  sugar  cane, 
arrowroot,  taro  and  potatoes.  Above  this  fertile  belt 
is  quite  a  width  of  forest,  after  which  the  bare  sides 


1825.  83 

of  the  mountain  rise  to  a  peak.  It  stands  towards 
the  rising  sun.  These  distant  scenes  of  the  mountain, 
and  perpetual  verdure  of  forest  and  vegetation,  are 
ever  to  be  enjoyed. 

On  the  west  we  have  a  most  extensive  and  de- 
lightful prospect  of  the  ocean,  also  a  view  of  the  whole 
village,  in  which  is  the  church  lately  erected  by  a 
heathen  ruler,  encircled  by  a  wall  from  a  fallen  tem- 
ple, where  so  lately  were  offered  human  victims.  All 
along  the  shore  are  a  few  kou  and  many  cocoa-nut 
trees. 

Kailua  is  distinguished  for  clear  sunny  days,  brill- 
iant nights,  and  magnificent  sunsets.  The  mountain 
most  thoroughly  shields  it  from  trade-winds,  but  the 
daily  sea  breeze,  and  that  in  the  evening  from  the 
mountain,  are  very  refreshing.  The  mercury  seldom 
stands  higher  than  84°,  or  lower  than  60°.  The  cli- 
mate is  soft  and  delicious.  Where  it  is  sterile  there 
is  no  humidity  at  night  in  the  air.  We  always  have 
to  go  two  miles  back  to  find  a  sparse  supply  of  fresh 
water,  and  sometimes  five  miles. 

Such  beauties  and  desolations  are  the  attractions 
and  repulsions  of  Kailua. 

Back  of  the  village  on  that  arid  slope,  a  third  of 
a  mile  from  the  shore,  was  an  unoccupied,  eligible  site 
for  a  house  and  grounds.  There  we  set  about  making 
such  a  home  as  circumstances  would  allow,  and  as  the 
double  responsibilities  required,  of  molding  heathen 
society,  and  of  forming  the  characters  of  our  children. 

Five  acres  were  enclosed  with  a  stone  wall  three 
feet  wide  and  six  feet  high,  with  simply  the  front 
gate  for  entrance.  A  large  thatched  house  was  erected. 
Space  was  allowed  for  a  yard  twenty-five  feet  in 
breadth.  Two  close  partition  walls  were  built  six  feet 
high,   running   from  the  outer  wall  each  side  of  the 


84  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

front  gate,  close  up  against  the  side  of  the  house,  each 
side  of  the  front  door.  That  first  apartment,  twenty- 
five  feet  square,  is  the  reception  room  for  the  natives. 
They  know  precisely  where  to  enter  the  yard  and  the 
house,  and  they  have  learned  where  to  stop.  No  one 
is  permitted  to  go  beyond  that  room  without  permis- 
sion or  invitation.  There  is  Mr.  Thurston's  study 
table  and  his  study  chair.  Another  room  of  equal 
size  is  our  dining  room.  In  that,  and  in  a  small 
thatched  cook-house  beyond,  are  our  facilities  for 
living.  There  is  the  sphere  of  action  for  our  house- 
hold natives.  I  teach  my  schools  in  that  dining  room, 
and  Mr.  Thurston  his  in  his  study.  Another  parti- 
tion wall  from  the  rear  comes  up  close  against  the 
back  of  the  house,  forming"  a  back  yard,  where  our 
household  natives  have  a  thatched  house  and  a  home. 
Thus  the  large  house  and  yards  have  distinct  accom- 
modations, for  household  natives,  the  work  of  the 
family,  for  native  company,  and  schools. 

At  the  back  side  of  the  house  is  a  hall  which  leads 
both  from  the  dining  room  and  study  to  a  door,  the 
only  entrance  into  a  retired  yard  of  three  acres.  There 
stands  another  thatched  house,  built  after  the  custom 
of  the  country.  The  frame  is  tied  together  with  the 
very  strong  bark  of  a  certain  tree.  Then  from  the 
ridge-pole  to  the  ground,  the  frame  is  entirely  covered 
with  long  slender  poles,  tied  within  a  few  inches  of 
each  other,  over  which  the  long  lauhala  leaves  are  laid, 
leaving  the  two  ends  to  hang  down  on  the  outside. 
That  house  is  the  home  of  our  children.  There  is 
our  family  sitting  room,  eighteen  feet  square,  and 
there  are  our  sleeping  apartments.  And  inasmuch  as 
I  often  wish  to  invite  my  native  friends  to  that  sitting 
room,  we  enclosed  the  further  bed  room  in  a  yard 
sixty  feet  square,  with  a  wall   six  feet  high,  coming 


1825.  85 

up  close  to  the  house  on  both  sides.  There  is  no  en- 
trance to  the  yard  through  the  wall,  but  a  door  into  it 
from  our  bed  room.  Then  if  I  am  entertaining  com- 
pany in  the  sitting  room,  the  children  can  pass  from 
thence  into  the  bed  room,  and  so  out  into  their  own 
yard  and  place  of  recreation,  having  without  inter- 
ference, the  enjoyment  of  freedom  and  action.  I; 
left  in  the  sitting  room,  devoted  to  the  natives,  am  still 
porter  to  the  only  door  that  leads  into  the  children's 
special  enclosure,  and  have  the  satisfied  feeling  of 
their  being  safe,  beyond  the  reach  of  native  influence.* 
In  our  kitchen  yard,  directly  opposite  and  within 
a  few  feet  of  each  other,  are  the  two  mouths  of  a 
large  cave  of  volcanic  formation.  The  larger  open- 
ing gives  us  the  novelty  of  a  subterraneous  walk  one- 
fourth  of  a  mile  toward  the  sea,  where  we  reach  a 
pond  of  brackish  water.  Some  of  the  rooms  of  this 
cave  are  quite  spacious.  The  natives  made  it  a  place 
of  concealment  in  times  of  war.  The  smaller  mouth 
of  the  cave  leads  into  a  low  cave  which  extends  three 
miles  up  the  mountain,  where  there  is  an  opening,  and 
when  obliged  to  hide  in  the  lower  cave,  the  natives 
stole  through  the  upper  one  to  procure  their  food. 
The  name  of  the  cave  is  Laniakeaf,  signifying  the 
broad  heavens.  As  it  is  enclosed  in  our  premises,  the 
natives  were  quick  to  give  the  name  to  our  establish- 
ment, so  that  it  has  become  universally  known  as  La- 
niakea. 

*Thatched  houses  are  not  durable,  therefore,  in  the  course  of 
years,  we  had  a  succession  of  dwellings,  but  this  was  the  general  ar- 
rangement. In  the  12th  year  of  the  Mission,  a  two-storied  wooden  house 
was  erected  in  the  children's  yard,  and  the  wall  for  their  special  enclos- 
ure removed,   as  the  times  no  longer  required  such   an  accommodation. 

+  La-ne-ah-kav'  -ah. 


ARTICLE    LIX. 

First    Sabbath   School   at  Kaihia. 

\  V 1  HEN  public  worship  was  there  first  established, 
*  *  in  a  new  native  church,  conducted  by  a  mis- 
sionary in  their  own  language,  the  natives  naturally 
showed  a  great  lack  of  training.  For  instance,  after 
the  sermon,  when  the  minister  closed  his  eyes  to  com- 
mence the  last  prayer,  the  people  would  commence  re- 
tiring from  the  house,  so  that  when  he  opened  his  eyes 
at  the  end  of  that  exercise,  he  would  find  it  nearly 
empty.  But  they  had  gradually  learned  orderly  habits, 
and  had  attended  public  Sabbath  exercises  for  about 
a  year.  Then  it  was  that  we  received,  simply  in  manu- 
script, a  translation  of  Watt's  Easy  Catechism  for 
Children.  It  was  a  talent  not  to  be  buried  in  a  nap- 
kin. Our  associates  were  absent.  I  was  in  active  life, 
but  my  health  seriously  suffered,  exhibiting  incipient 
symptoms  of  pulmonary  disease.  In  my  circum- 
stances, I  could  only  conceive  the  plan  of  a  class  com- 
ing to  be  taught  after  Sabbath  service  in  our  promised 
piazza.  Until  that  is  built,  stay  and  meet  them  at  the 
church.  Mr.  Thurston  engaged  to  take  charge  of  the 
children,  and  Honolii  promised  to  secure  a  class  of 
scholars. 

When  the  time  arrived,  Mr.  Thurston  descended 
from  the  pulpit,  gave  a  hand  to  each  of  the  little  girls, 
two  and  four  years  of  age,  and  retired.  Thus  released 
from  maternal  cares,  I  looked  around,  and  to  my  utter 
amazement,  the  whole  congregation  had  resumed  their 
seats.  Every  chief  (there  were  five  of  the  first  class 
present)  every  man,  woman  and  child,  all  as  one, 
wished  to  be  taught  the  catechism. 

I  saw    at    a    glance    that    I    had    unintentionally 


86 


1825.  87 

stepped  into  the  harness.  But  I  resolved  to  go  for- 
ward and  begin  at  the  beginning.  Honolii  was  to  me 
what  Aaron  was  to  Moses.  With  all  the  docility  of 
children,  they  suffered  themselves  to  be  seated  accord- 
ing to  their  rank,  sex,  and  age.  Honolii  then  took 
one  side  of  the  house,  and  I  the  other,  and  they  all 
attended  to  this  one  question : 

"Who  made  you?" 

"The  great  God  who  made  heaven  and  earth." 

This  question  was  answered  separately  by  every 
individual.  Then,  not  to  tax  their  patience,  Honolii 
closed  the  school  with  a  very  short  address,  and  a 
very  short  prayer. 

Such  was  the  extreme  weakness  and  simplicity 
with  which  that  first  Sabbath  school  sprung  into  being. 
But  they  dispersed,  every  one  of  them  carrying  away 
a  grand  idea,  of  which  the  great  Kamehameha  had  no 
knowledge. 

This  first  movement  necessarily  led  to  duties 
which  were  laborious  and  exhausting.  I  selected 
eighteen  of  the  best  scholars,  furnished  each  with  a 
manuscript  copy  of  the  lesson  for  the  next  Sabbath, 
taught  them  separately,  and  taught  them  together, 
what  they  were  to  teach  their  future  scholars. 

The  institution  of  the  Sabbath  had  been  estab- 
lished in  the  land  by  government.  The  day  of  rest 
and  of  privileges  again  dawned  upon  that  simple  peo- 
ple, just  waking  into  life.  The  public  services  of  the 
Sabbath  had  been  conducted  by  the  missionary.  The 
people  were  dismissed.  The  entire  congregation  re- 
mained as  before,  and  filed  off  to  their  several  places. 
Then  came  forward  a  band  of  teachers  prepared  to 
teach  orally  their  assigned  classes  what  they  had  been 
taught.     They  engaged  in  their  new  employment  with 


88  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

interest^  and  success.  The  school  prospered  and  mul- 
tiplied to  be  between  four  and  five  hundred  scholars. 
A  mighty  impulse  was  given  to  the  native  mind,  which 
so  exceeded  all  the  means  used,  as  to  render  it  appar- 
ent that  there  was  in  operation  a  renovating  influence, 
secret  and  divine. 

ARTICLE    LX. 

Kapulikoliko. 

SHE  was  the  daughter  of  Kamehameha  I.  In  her 
father's  court  she  sustained  the  honor  of  princess. 
When  the  common  people  passed  her,  they  prostrated 
themselves  on  the  ground.  But  when  her  father's  reign 
ceased,  of  the  children  of  twenty-one  wives,  those  only 
were  grouped  in  the  royal  family  whose  mothers  de- 
scended from  kings.  Of  course,  Kapulikoliko,  born 
on  her  mother's  side  of  plebeian  blood,  lost  position; 
yet  she  still  had  influence,  and  by  the  people  was  held 
in  great  reverence.  She  was  married  to  a  substantial 
man  of  common  birth,  and  with  great  ease  adapted 
herself  to  her  thorough  change  of  circumstances.  She 
was  about  making  a  permanent  removal,  by  leaving 
Kailua  for  a  distant  part  of  the  island.  Before  going, 
she  with  her  husband  and  attendants,  came  and  made 
a  farewell  call,  by  spending  the  day  with  us.  Before 
taking  leave,  as  her  parting  request,  with  great  sim- 
plicity and  assurance,  she  asked  me  to  give  her — yes, 
looked  me  full  in  the  face,  and  on  opening  her  mouth 
said:  "Give  us  your  elder  child"  (four  years  old,) 
"and  let  us  take  her  with  us  to  our  new  abode." 
Without  offending  her  ladyship,  I  refused  her  the 
precious  boon,  in  a  manner  too  decisive  to  leave  her 
any  encouragement  of  renewing  her  request.  What 
was  such  a  shock  to  my  feelings  is  a  common  custom 


1822.  89 

here.  They  dispose  of  their  children  without  one  idea 
of  building  up  a  family  of  brothers  and  sisters.  In- 
deed, parents  are  tacked  together  very  loosely.  They 
come  together  and  separate  as  convenience  and  incli- 
nation dictate.  One  man  will  have  several  wives,  or 
one  woman  will  have  several  husbands.  Here  is  a 
mass  of  humanity  in  a  chaotic  state.  Take  half  a 
dozen  of  them,  and  put  them  into  some  school  in  the 
United  States,  and  something  can  be  done  with  them. 
But  it  requires  a  great  influence  to  lift  a  nation. 

ARTICLE    LXI. 

A    Female   Friday   Meeting   Commenced. 

]\  /[  RS.  Bishop  and  myself  acted  in  concert.  We 
!»-■•  conceived  the  idea  of  endeavoring  to  lift  our 
female  population,  by  meeting  with  them  every  Friday 
p.  M.  We  were  each  to  sustain  the  responsibility  of 
the  thing,  by  alternately  presiding  at  the  meetings. 
For  many  months  they  have  been  attended.  At  first, 
I  think,  there  was  not  an  individual  who  had  learned 
to  say  "Our  Father."  Now  they  can  lead  in  prayer 
with  great  propriety,  and  think  it  a  great  privilege. 
In  acquiring  this  gift,  they  exhibit  the  greatest  sim- 
plicity and  freedom,  never  neglecting  to  exercise  one 
talent,  because  they  have  not  ten.  With  great  free- 
dom, and  seriousness  too,  they  express  their  religious 
convictions. 

We  read  to  them  a  portion  of  scripture.  But 
Bible  leaves  in  the  Hawaiian  language  have  been  very 
scarce.  Once  I  was  driven  to  extremity,  being  obliged 
to  take  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew,  the  only  portion 
remaining.  That  was  the  way  they  rehearsed  the 
names   of   their   own   kings,   and   preserved   them  by 


90  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

simply  retaining  them  in  memory.  Two  women  of 
cultivated  tenacious  memories,  came  up  to  our  house 
after  meeting,  and  wished  me  to  read  that  chapter 
again.  After  I  did  so,  they  assisted  each  other,  and 
began  by  repeating  the  line  of  names  from  Abram  to 
David,  to  the  captivity,  to  Jesus.  They  went  through 
successfully  only  asking  aid  in  recalling  two  names. 

One  more  subject  was  brought  up  in  these  meet- 
ings. This  people  were  in  a  state  of  nature.  There 
was  only  one  point  where  I  ever  saw  them  exhibit 
shame.  Both  men  and  women  were  disposed  and  al- 
lowed to  move  around  in  public  in  a  state  of  perfect 
nudity.  But  if  they  appeared  so  without  having  one 
hand  become  a  substitute  for  an  apron  of  fig  leaves, 
it  would  among  themselves  be  severely  condemned. 
Childhood  was  ever  taught  to  press  in  and  be  present 
at  the  birth  of  children.  In  all  social  acts,  they  too 
were  taught  to  be  alike  skilled  with  those  of  adult 
years.  They  divided  and  subdivided  this  knowledge, 
laid  it  up  on  their  tongues,  and  then  scattered  it  right 
and  left  to  vaunt  their  own  knowledge  or  promote 
their  pastimes.  Impurity  of  speech  with  both  parents 
and  children  had  become  a  giant  in  the  land,  stalking 
everywhere.  We  could  not  defy  it  in  its  native  ele- 
ment. But  we  were  moved  to  drive  it  from  our  retired 
sitting  rooms,  the  homes  of  our  children.  Whoever 
wished  the  privilege  of  crossing  the  thresholds  to  those 
apartments,  consecrated  to  purity,  must  be  subject  to 
criticism.  Whatever  was  there  uttered  which  we  dis- 
approved, we  penned,  and  read  in  the  Friday  meeting. 

Thus  we  tried  to  give  them  a  standard  of  what 
was  right,  and  began  by  endeavoring  to  form  a  healthy 
moral  atmosphere  in  two  rooms,  eighteen  feet  square, 
where  natives  were  allowed  to  tread. 


1826.  91 

I  carried  my  little  manuscript  book  and  pencil  in 
my  pocket,  and  used  them  on  the  spur  of  the  occasion, 
and  thus  prepared  notes  for  a  future  meeting. 

I  had  a  severe  struggle  with  my  own  feelings  in 
establishing  these  things,  and  passed  painful,  sleepless 
hours,  lest  I  had  offended.  But  it  proved  the  reverse. 
For  heavenly  dews  had  prepared  the  soil  to  receive 
seed  as  into  good  and  honest  hearts. 

ARTICLE    LXII. 

On    the   Death  of  my   Early  Associate,    Mrs.   Elizabeth   Edwards  Bishop. 

1\ /[  RS.  BISHOP  lived  and  moved  among  us,  exhib- 
*■ "  •*■  iting  by  her  activity,  by  the  rosy  hue  and  radi- 
ence  of  her  countenance,  a  high  state  of  health.  She 
exerted  herself  in  the  day  school,  in  the  Sabbath 
school,   and  in  the  Female  Friday  Meeting. 

But  the  scene  was  changed.  Her  bloom  and 
strength  gave  place  to  debility  and  internal  sufferings. 
There  was  no  physician  in  the  kingdom  to  detect  the 
disease.  For  more  than  half  a  year  she  quietly  re- 
mained in  her  home,  with  great  humility  and  patience 
struggling  through  just  what  was  meted  out  to  her. 
Then,  in  shipping  season,  she,  with  her  husband  and 
children,  sailed  for  Honolulu,  with  the  hope  of  meet- 
ing with  a  traveling  physician.  In  this  they  were  suc- 
cessful. The  doctor  pronounced  her  disease  dyspep- 
sia. But  no  professional  skill  diminished  her  great 
sufferings.  After  the  lapse  of  several  months,  she  re- 
turned to  Kailua.  As  she  entered  the  harbor,  several 
women  went  off  on  board  to  meet  her.  She  said  to 
them:  "I  shall  soon  die,  and  my  unfaithfulness  to  you 
makes  me  afraid  to  meet  God  in  judgment."  Her 
expressing  herself  in  that  manner  proved  very  im- 
pressive to  the  natives.     For  they  said:    "If  after  do- 


92  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

ing  so  much  for  us,  she  is  afraid  to  meet  God,  how 
will  it  be  for  us?" 

On  coming  ashore,  they  passed  their  own  estab- 
lishment, and  entered  our  family.  Mrs.  Bishop  was 
again  with  us.  But  she  was  a  wreck  of  her  former 
self.  During  her  absence,  disease  had  made  great 
ravages.  She  had  become  very  feeble,  very  much 
emaciated,  and  distressingly  nervous.  Her  internal 
sufferings  were  excruciating.  She  sometimes  com- 
pared  them  to  fire.  There  was  a  singular  and  inces- 
sent  palpitation  at  her  stomach,  and  according  to  her 
own  account,  the  reception  of  even  a  spoonful  of 
chicken  soup  caused  it  to  be  too  intense  and  agoniz- 
ing to  admit  of  sleep.  Consequently  her  ordinary 
practice  was,  at  early  dawn  to  take  one,  two,  or  three 
spoonsfuls  of  soup,  and  as  she  happened  to  feel,  some- 
times once  or  twice  a  similar  pittance  during  the  fore- 
noon. The  afternoon  was  spent  in  fasting,  to  have 
an  empty  stomach  to  go  to  bed  upon  at  dark.  Several 
times  there  were  intervals  of  twenty-four  hours  with- 
out her  swallowing  the  least  thing.  This  course 
seemed  to  us  a  great  error.  But  anything  by  way  of 
persuasion  was  not  only  altogether  unavailing,  but  an 
occasion  of  grief.  She  would  weep  and  say,  "You 
don't  know  anything  about  the  state  of  my  stomach." 
By  the  time  she  left  us,  she  became  one  of  the  most 
emaciated  forms  my  eyes  ever  beheld. 

From  evening  twilight  till  early  dawn,  her  state 
required  the  most  profound  stillness  through  the 
thatched  building,  as  the  rooms,  above  the  partitions, 
were  all  thrown  together.  So  I  transferred  the  nurs- 
ery to  the  other  cottage,  packed  three  little  girls  into 
a  wide  children's  crib,  and  had  the  disjointed  accom- 
modation of  a  sailor's  hammock  and  the  dining  table 
for  myself  and  babe  five  months  old.     Mr.  Thurston, 


1828.  93 

with  his  consideration  and  self  control,  entered  the 
house  at  the  opposite  end  from  the  invalid, — in  the 
dark,  with  the  stealth  of  a  thief,  and  lay  softly  down 
on  his  bed.  During  the  day  we  were  all  admitted  to 
the  common  sitting  room,  where  she  reclined  on  the 
settee. 

At  the  expiration  of  one  week,  the  native  men  of 
our  village  had  completed  their  work  of  love.  On  an 
eligible  site  in  our  yard,  beneath  our  care>  but  beyond 
the  reach  of  household  sounds,  they  had  erected  a  com- 
modious thatched  building,  twenty  by  twenty-four  feet, 
more  or  less.  It  was  for  their  suffering  teacher,  Mrs. 
Bishop.  From  the  very  first,  and  so  long  as  the  house 
stood,  it  received  the  name  of  "Bishop  Retreat."  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bishop  immediately  entered  it.  Her  commo- 
dious couch  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  im- 
mediately before  an  ample  door  where  she  could  have 
the  full  play  of  a  delicious  sea  breeze.  From  that 
period  to  the  end,  two  intelligent  native  women  came 
successively  and  sat  by  her  couch  through  the  night. 
She  spoke  with  much  satisfaction  of  their  improve- 
ment and  the  relief  they  afforded  her. 

Mrs.  Bishop's  sufferings  increased.  Weeks  of  an- 
guish, paroxysms  of  agony,  and  the  frenzy  of  delirium 
were  measured  out  to  her.  We  traveled  with  and 
watched  over  her,  by  night  and  by  day,  to  sustain  her 
in  the  darkness,  and  in  the  storm.  It  was  midnight; 
the  tempest  was  high,  the  billows  rolled  near  her. 
Suddenly  there  was  a  lull.  "Let  me  depart  in  peace," 
she  said  calmly,  and  fell  to  sleep  as  peacefully  as  the 
infant  in  its  mother's  arms.  Mrs.  Bishop  had  left  us, 
■ — had  left  with  us  her  two  infant  children  under  three 
years  of  age,  and  gone  to  her  rest. 

Then  with  deep  love  and  respect  we  neatly 
dressed  and  enclosed  our  precious   dead   in  a  coffin. 


94  Life    of   Lucy    G.    Thurston. 

The  natives  in  their  transition  state,  were  delighted 
with  this  new  order  of  things.*  A  large  concourse  of 
chiefs  and  people  assembled  at  our  house,  all  habited 
in  black,  with  as  much  order  and  decency  as  I  ever 
witnessed  in  my  own  country,  the  procession  moved 
to  the  church,  and  from  thence  to  the  grave,  where 
we  committed  the  sacred  deposit  to  the  silent  bosom 
of  mother  Earth.  And  we  taught  them  to  restrain 
their  boisterous  expressions  of  natural  affection  under 
the  bereavement, t  and  to  bow  with  submission  and 
thanksgiving  to  Him  who  is  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life. 

Mrs.  Bishop's  deep  religious  feelings,  her  Chris- 
tian faithfulness,  her  severe  sufferings,  and  her  early 
death,  powerfully  enlisted  the  tender  and  close  sym- 
pathies of  the  natives.  It  was  at  our  expense  that  the 
soil  was  thus  prepared  for  early  planting"  a  church  at 
Kailua. 

[Eleven  years  after  Mrs.  Bishop's  death,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  remove  her  body.  Our  whole 
family  and  Dr.  Andrews  were  witnesses.  When  the 
box  and  coffin  were  unearthed,  they  were  found  to 
be  in  a  very  decayed  state.  When  the  coffin  was 
thrown  open,  the  garments,  flesh  and  small  bones  were 
seen  all  reduced  to  fine,  dry  dust.  The  long  spinal 
column  remained  entire,  and  in  the  lower  half  of  it 
was  a  very  prominent  curve.  The  first  words  spoken 
were  by  the  doctor.  "Of  what  disease  did  she  die?" 
I  replied :  "A  doctor  pronounced  it  dyspepsia."  He 
answered :  "The  spinal  column  could  not  be  thus  dis- 
torted without  great  suffering." 

*  I  shall  ever  remember  well  the  first  Christian  burial  that  was 
ever  attended  on  these  shores.  The  people  ran  together  by  hundreds, 
and  seemed  half  frantic.  With  their  honored  dead,  the  flesh  was 
stripped  from  the  bones,  and  consumed  with  fire,  while  the  bones  were 
preserved. 

fUnder  their  most  common  bereavements,  wailings  would  strike 
upon   the   ear   to   be   heard    a   mile. 


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1828.  95 

Two  years  after  this,  I  was  in  America  and  saw 
Mrs.  Spaulding'  who  formerly  belonged  to  our  Ha- 
waiian missionary  band.  Here  she  lost  her  health, 
and  its  was  not  until  she  was  bedridden  that  her  dis- 
ease was  found  to  be  an  affection  of  the  spine.  She 
is  now  in  health.  She  very  particularly  inquired  in 
regard  to  Mrs.  Bishop's  last  illness.  After  learning 
the  facts  she  remarked :  "As  you  describe  her  symp- 
toms, I  have  not  a  doubt  but  her  disease  was  a  spinal 
affection.  I  have  been  taught  by  experience  to  have 
a  deep  sympathy  in  many  of  her  feelings."] 


ARTICLE    LXIII. 

Death  of  a   Sister. 

SIX  weeks  after  Mrs.  Bishop's  death,  a  letter  ar- 
rived, announcing  the  heavy  tidings  that  my  own 
sister,  Mrs.  Persis  G.  Parkhurst,  was  gone.  Thus  the 
two  sisters  on  whom  I  most  relied,  the  one  at  the 
Islands,  and  the  other  in  America,  were  removed 
from  me  as  with  a  stroke.  The  fact  that  I  drooped 
for  years  with  fatal  tendencies,  while  they  bloomed 
with  vigor,  then  that  they  both  were  removed,  while 
I  was  sustained  in  active  life,  appeared  marvelous. 
"Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight." 
In  the  last  precious  letter  which  my  sister  Persis 
wrote  me,  she  mentioned  hearing  Dr.  Pavson  preach 
from  these  words :  "What  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now, 
but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  "I  felt,"  she  said, 
"as  if  I  could  hang  forever  on  his  lips."  Then,  after 
giving  an  account,  with  all  a  mother's  feelings,  of 
being  called  to  resign  a  little  prattling  son  to  the 
grave,  she  added  :  "But  God  has  done  it,  and  I  will 
not  complain,  for  I  know  that  he  does  all  things  well." 


ARTICLE    LXIV. 

Extracts   from   Letters.      Situation    and    Progress   of    Work.      Success   of 
Female    Friday    Meeting.       Pulukai.* 

MY  heart  often  turns  toward  the  pen  and  toward 
you.  Did  you  know  my  situation,  and  the  active 
and  responsible  duties  devolving  upon  me,  there  would 
be  no  need  of  an  apology  for  neglect.  Think  of  a 
hotel  in  the  middle  of  your  town :  of  a  house  thus 
public  I  am  mistress.  Think  of  children,  cut  off  from 
the  benefits  of  the  sanctuary,  of  schools,  of  associates : 
of  children  thus  exiled,  I  am  the  mother.  Think  of 
a  heathen  people  who  have  just  begun  to  ruminate 
upon  the  wonders  of  Revelation  ;  their  eyes  and  their 
hearts  are  turned  towards  the  teachers  who  brought 
these  new  doctrines  and  duties  to  their  shores,  and  in 
the  language  of  implicit  confidence  and  affection  they 
say:  "You  are  our  father,  you  are  our  mother:  tell 
us  what  to  do."  Among  such  a  people  I  stand  con- 
nected. Pray  for  me  that  I  may  serve  my  generation 
faithfully,  and  that  as  my  day  is,  so  my  strength 
may  be. 

November  4th. — We  have  been  at  this  station  six 
years.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  first  year  I  felt 
what  it  was  to  live  among  heathen.  I  had  acquired 
such  knowledge  of  the  language  and  character  of  the 
people,  as  to  realize  with  what  revolting  characters  I 
was  surrounded.  A  few  months  previous  to  the  de- 
cease of  my  ever  to  be  lamented  friend,  Mrs.  Bishop, 
a  new  impulse  was  given  to  their  feelings.  During 
the  last  year,  reformation  has  been  a  silent  and  pro- 
gressive work.  Such  was  the  propensity  to  flock  to 
our  house  for  religious  instruction,  that  we  found  it 

*Poo-loo-ky. 

96 


1820.  97 

necessary  in  order  to  the  performance  of  other  duties, 
to  have  restrictions.  During  the  forenoon  our  house 
was  under  a  kapu;  that  is,  the  people  were  not  al- 
lowed to  visit  it.  Yet  to  this  general  rule,  the  chiefs 
and  principal  teachers  must  lie  made  an  exception.  In 
the  afternoon,  our  doors  were  open  to  any  and  to  all, 
and  our  house  has  been  thronged.  The  principal  peo- 
ple take  chairs,  but  the  common  people  enter,  and  as 
their  habit  is,  seat  themselves  on  the  mat  at  our  feet, 
saying:  "We  come  to  declare  to  you  our  thoughts: 
we  are  sinners  ;  we  are  thieves,  and  liars,  and  adul- 
terers, and  murderers :  we  are  afraid  of  sin  ;  we  are 
afraid  of  eternal  death;  we  are  afraid  of  the  Son  of 
God ;  we  are  in  darkness ;  we  are  in  the  shades  of 
death  ;  teach  us."  Others  again  thus  express  them- 
selves :  "We  are  great  sinners  ;  we  repent  of  our  sins  ; 
we  forsake  them  ;  we  rest  our  souls  in  Jesus  Christ : 
He  is  our  salvation  ;  He  is  our  sacrifice ;  we  love  Him  ; 
we  rejoice  in  Him;  we  desire  his  righteousness;  we 
wish  to  sit  at  his  feet  and  learn  of  Him;  and  serve 
Him;  we  wish  to  be  in  His  hand.''  Forty-three  have 
been  baptized  and  received  into  the  church  at  this 
place.  Probably  fifty  more  give  evidence  of  piety. 
The  good  people  are  active.  What  thev  have  freely 
received,  they  freely  give.  Their  little  missionary  ex- 
cursions have  been  very  interesting;  they  have  been  out 
to  distant  villages ;  searched  out  the  aged,  the  blind,  the 
sick,  the  infirm,  and  told  them  of  Jesus  and  of  Heaven  : 
they  have  taught  the  ignorant,  and  excited  all  to  an 
attendance  on  public  worship. 

About  three  weeks  ago,  a  new  and  general  ex- 
citement commenced.  At  the  dawn  of  day  they  tapped 
at  our  doors  with  the  anxious  inquiry,  "What  shall 
I  do."  All  regulations  were  prostrated,  and  from 
day-break  till  ten  o'clock  at  night,  one  company  sue- 


98  Life   of   Lucy    G.    Thurston. 

ceecled  another  in  rapid  succession.  Air.  Thurston 
has  only  been  able  to  command  time  for  his  meals. 
From  morning  till  night  he  has  been  in  his  study 
chair,  with  an  individual  or  a  cluster  at  his  feet ; 
sometimes  a  company  of  fifty  or  sixty,  which  entirely 
filled  the  room.  Some  days  we  have  received  calls 
from  several  hundreds.  I  devote  as  much  time  to  the 
instruction  of  the  women  as  I  can  redeem  from  my 
family.  My  labors  are  more  particularly  directed  to 
the  members  of  the  Friday  Female  Meeting.  Two 
years  ago  their  names  were  enrolled  and  a  discipline 
introduced.  A  moral  standard  was  raised.  Whoever 
wished  to  join  the  Society  must  forsake  all  their  former 
vile  practices,  and  pay  an  external  regard  to  the  Word 
and  Worship  of  God.  They  must  uniformly  have  a 
full  covering  for  their  persons,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  follow  whatever  is  lovely  and  of  good 
report.  Such  has  since  been  the  change  in  public  opin- 
ion, that  scenes  which  were  then  familiar  to  the  eve, 
would  now  be  scouted  out  of  the  village  as  shameful 
indecencies.  This  Society  has  prospered  ;  for  in  two 
years,  from  seventy  it  has  increased  to  fifteen  hundred. 
The  names  of  five  hundred  have  been  enrolled  within 
the  last  three  weeks.  These  are  all  divided  into  classes, 
and  each  class  has  a  particular  teacher  to  whom  to 
look  for  instruction.  The  number  of  female  teachers 
has  risen  to  twenty,  all  hopefuly  pious.  This  is  my 
class.  I  teach  them  what  I  wish  them  to  teach  others. 
The  men's  society  is  conducted  on  the  same  plan. 
Two  large  thatched  houses  have  been  erected  for  the 
accommodation  of  these  societies. 

I  will  introduce  you  to  one  of  the  many  in  whom 
I  feel  most  interested,  named  Pulukai.  Not  that  he 
is  the  most  important  character  among  us,  yet  in  works 
of  love  none  surpass  him.     I  know  not  where  he  ac- 


1829.  99 

quired  his  politeness,  but  probably  abroad,  as  he  has 
visited  foreign  ports.  He  is  here  nearly  every  day, 
yet  he  never  comes  into  our  presence  but  he  bows, 
presents  his  hand  to  his  face,  and  all  so  heartily,  and 
with  so  much  reverence  (as  if  some  great  personage 
stood  before  him  for  the  first  time)  that  it  always 
makes  me  smile.  His  presence  never  fails  to  give  me 
pleasure.  The  other  clay  he  spoke  with  tears  of  his 
former  state  and  feelings.  He  said  :  "I  returned  home 
from  the  north-west  coast,  and  found  my  former 
friends  were  all  dead.  One  day  I  went  back  into  a 
solitary  place,  and  there  I  remained,  and  walked,  and 
wept.  It  was  not  for  my  soul,— I  neither  knew  nor 
thought  about  that, — but  I  wept  for  my  body;  for  if 
I  should  die,  I  had  no  friend  that  would  bury  it ;  it 
would  lie  and  decay  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
when  any  person  passed  along  and  asked,  'Who  is 
that?" — the  reply  would  be:  Tt  is  Pulukai.'  But  now 
I  have  many  friends.  They  give  me  food  and  clothes. 
They  are  kind  to  me  while  I  am  living,  and  they  will 
take  care  of  my  body  when  I  am  dead.  It  is  because 
the  love  of  God  is  in  their  hearts."  During  the  sick- 
ness of  Mrs.  Bishop,  his  anxieties  were  employed 
about  that  part  which  is  of  more  importance  than  his 
poor  body.  I  shall  ever  remember,  that  one  day  as  I 
went  to  the  door  to  smooth  the  couch  for  her  emaci- 
ated form,  and  stood  seeing  her  borne  away,  reflect- 
ing that  the  manele*  must  soon  be  exchanged  for  the 
bier,  that  Pulukai,  who  had  been  watching  his  oppor- 
tunity for  a  word  of  instruction,  came  up  to  me,  say- 
ing, he  had  passed  three  sleepless  nights  thinking 
about  his  sins,  and  his  exposure  to  eternal  death.  It 
was  a  short  time  after,  that  the  love  of  Jesus  became 

*Mah-nay-lay.  A  couch  for  conveyance,  having  men  placed  at 
the  head  and  foot,  who  carry  it  by  means  of  poles  resting  on  their 
shoulders. 


100  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

his  theme  and  his  life  and  conversation  have  since 
given  abundant  evidence  that  he  was  taught  of  God. 
Humility  and  love  were  the  characteristics  of  Pulukai, 
and  they  shed  a  luster  over  the  tawny  features  of  our 
humble  friend. 

ARTICLE    LXV. 

To   Rev.   William  Goodell,   Missionary  of  the   A.   B.   C.    P.  M.,   at  Malta. 

Kailua,  October,  16,  1820. 

My  Dear   Cousin  and  Brother: 

Your  going  to  western  Asia  seems  to  have  made 
you  our  neighbor,  and  caused  me  to  think  of  you  with 
peculiar  nearness.  Notwithstanding-  the  convulsive 
nature  of  things,  that  region  has  appeared  to  me  one- 
of  the  most  interesting  fields  into  which  the  American 
Board  is  casting  imperishable  seed.  Your  conflicts 
there  have  caused  you  all  to  become  tried  characters, 
and  I  rejoice  that  grace  has  been  given  you  to  be 
found   faithful. 

I  am  now  going  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton, for  never  since  I  knew  him  have  I  witnessed  in 
him  such  application  to  his  studies,  such  devotedness 
to  the  natives.  He  speaks  the  Hawaiian  language 
with  greater  ease  and  fluency-  than  the  English, 
preaches  without  notes,  ever  devoting  the  last  hour 
or  two  before  entering  the  pulpit  to  his  sermon,  and 
with  as  much  solemnity  as  if  the  veil  was  withdrawn 
which    conceals    futurity   from    his   view. 

When  translating  the  Scriptures  from  their  orig- 
inal language,  he  sits  at  the  study  table  overspread 
with  books.  From  that  same  chair  he  does  more  by 
way  of  preaching  repentance  toward  God  and  faith 
in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  than  trom  the  consecrated 


1829.  101 

desk.  The  afternoon  is  almost  wholly  thus  devoted, 
talking  individually  with  the  natives.  The  shades  of 
night  change  his  employment,  for  then  the  people 
who  come  to  converse  give  way  for  the  "fa,  so,  la" 
company,  as  it  is  here  called. 

\\  nat  is  to  become  of  our  children  has  been  a 
question  agitated  throughout  our  mission  families, 
and  a  subject  which  has  pressed  heavily  upon  parental 
feelings.  The  general  sentiment  has  been,  "Send 
them  to  America  for  education."  A  joint  letter  was 
written  to  the  American  Board  expressive  of  such  de- 
sires. An  answer  has  been  received ;  but  they  can 
grant  no  facilities,  and  advise  that  they  remain  with 
their  parents  in  this  land.  However,  of  the  few 
families  from  the  brig  Tliaddeus  who  still  remain 
in  the  field,  ours  is  the  only  one  but  what  has  already 
by  gratuitous  passages,  sent  home  the  precious  gift 
of  a  child  to  personal  friends.  To  send  away  chil- 
dren at  an  age  so  early,  while  T  am  sustained  in  active 
life,  is  what  every  feeling  of  my  heart  revolts  against. 
But  when  the  period  arrives  that  they  must  pass  from 
under  the  ever  watchful  eye  of  a  parent,  when  an 
employment,  trade  or  profession  for  future  life  is 
chosen,  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  no  longer  a  place  for 
them.  I  have  not  felt  like  some  of  our  mothers,  that 
children  must  be  sent  away  or  be  ruined.  I  harp  upon 
another  string,  and  say,  make  better  provision  for 
them,  or  that  will  likely  be  the  result.  And  in  the 
first  place,  houses  and  door  yards  must  be  laid  out  to 
meet  the  character  of  the  people,  and  the  exigencies 
of  the  times.  Ours  is  planned  for  comfort  and  useful- 
ness on  heathen  ground.  Missionaries  are  public 
characters,  and  their  houses  must  be  public  houses. 
I  am  sure  ours  is,  at  present,  from  morning  till  bed- 
time and  often  so  thronged,  that  we  cannot,  without 
difficulty,  pass   from   room  to  room.     But  if  children 


102  Life    of   Lucy    G.    Thurston. 

are  suitable  appendages  to  a  mission  family,  they 
must  be  taken  care  of,  and  I  know  not  on  whom  this 
duty  more  appropriately  devolves  than  on  a  mother. 
And  in  order  to  take  care  of  them,  there  must  be  a 
child's  department.  Sooner  ask  me  to  furnish  a  din- 
ner without  a  table,  to  sit  down  without,  a  chair,  or 
spread  my  couch  without  a  bedstead,  than  to  rear 
such  a  stately  edifice  as  the  moral  and  intellectual 
character  of  a  child  without  some  facilities. 

The  first  rule  to  be  attended  to  with  regard  to 
children  is  that  they  must  not  speak  the  native  lan- 
guage. It  is  an  easy  thing  to  make  such  a  law,  but 
it  is  a  mother's  duty  to  guard  it  from  being  violated, 
and  to  form  in  her  children  fixed  habits  of  doing  as 
they  are  required.  It  of  course,  follows,  that  they  are 
never  left  to  the  care  of  natives  after  reaching  the 
age  of  prattling.  No  intercourse  whatever  should 
exist  between  children  and  heathen.  On  this  point 
I  am  very  particular.  Establish  a  loose  system  here, 
and  I  would  say  with  every  one  else,  "Send  children 
to  America,  no  matter  how  soon." 

Of  all  the  trials  incident  to  missionary  life,  the 
responsibility  of  training  up  children,  and  of  making 
provision  for  their  virtue  and  usefulness  when  they 
pass  from  under  the  watchful  eye  of  parents,  is,  com- 
paratively speaking,  the  only  one  worthy  of  being 
named.  When  my  thoughts  turn  to  their  future  pros- 
pects in  life,  a  darkness  visible  seems  to  brood  over 
their  path.  But  hush,  my  anxious  heart.  It  is  mine 
to  perform  present  duties,  and  cast  my  cares  on  Him 
who  is  Almighty. 

Affectionately  your  Cousin, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXVI. 

Extracts  from  Letter.  Mr.  Thurston's  Duties  Public.  Mine  more 
Private.  Power  of  Word  of  God.  Religious  Experience  of  a 
Native    Neighbor.      Need   of   Bibles,    &c,    for    Foreigners. 

/^\CTOBER  30,  1830.— Mr.  Thurston  is  entirely  de- 
^-^  voted  to  works  of  a  public  nature.  My  duties 
are  of  a  more  private  character.  I  am  the  house- 
keeper, the  mother,  and  the  domestic  teacher.  What 
time  I  can  redeem  from  family  cares,  I  give  to  our 
native  females.  Twenty-six  hundred  have  been  gath- 
ered into  our  Friday  meetings.  This  society  is  in  a 
very  flourishing  state.  As  I  cannot  see  them  all  at 
our  house,  I  teach  them  by  proxy,  selecting  from  the 
most  intelligent  ones  a  class  of  teachers  to  come  under 
my  instructions.  When  night  closes  upon  me,  and 
there  is  a  suspension  of  maternal  and  domestic  duties, 
I  take  my  chosen  season  to  meet  the  natives.  I  pass 
from  a  hushed  nursery  to  the  long  dining  room,  where 
a  table  is  extended  for  the  accommodation  of  twenty- 
five.  It  is  lighted  up  and  the  women  are  in  their 
seats.  Our  governor's  wife  attends.  It  is  on  the 
whole  a  social  interview.  But  one  theme  is  before  us 
in  every  one's  hand.  We  turn  over  together  the  pages 
of  Holy  Writ,  as  it  is  issued  from  the  press. 

The  Word  of  God  is  powerful.  I  have  lived  to 
see  both  sides  of  the  picture.  I  saw  this  neglected 
portion  of  our  race,  groping  along  in  all  the  darkness 
o£  nature,  listening  to  messages  from  Heaven  with 
indifference  and  contempt,  and  for  a  long  time  hear- 
ing as  though  they  heard  not.  Alan  can  speak  only 
to  the  ear.  I  looked  again,  and  a  secret  energy  was 
transforming  their  moral  characters.  Those  very  be- 
ings who  were  once  bowing  down  to  stocW  of  wood 

103 


104  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

and  stone,  worshiping  sharks  and  volcanoes,  and 
slaves  to  all  the  sins  which  degrade  human  nature, 
are  now  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  learning  and 
doing  his  will.  Two  years  ago  last  February,  when 
our  dear  Mrs.  Bishop  bade  them  farewell,  till  she 
should  meet  them  at  the  bar  of  God,  no  native  at 
Kailua  had  been  baptized.  Since  that  time  sixty-five 
have  been  admitted  to  the  Holy  Communion,  and  a 
much  larger  number  give  evidence  of  having  experi- 
enced the  renovating  influence  of  the  Spirit. 

Yesterday  one  of  our  native  neighbors  called  on 
us  for  the  first  time,  a  man  perhaps  forty  years  old, 
one  who  had  been  notoriously  wicked.  His  wife  by 
her  frequent  calls  was  quite  familiar  with  us.  She 
accompanied,  and  introduced  him  to  us  a  stranger. 
"T  came,"  he  said,  "to  tell  you  my  thoughts.  I  have 
been  very  wicked."  In  addition  to  other  crimes,  he 
mentioned  some  particulars  of  a  crime  he  had  com- 
mitted. "But,"  he  said,  "I  have  now  got  my  works 
straight  on  the  outside.  But  T  look  into  my  heart, 
and  the  law  of  God  is  there  broken.  It  is  so  this  day, 
and  that  day,  and  every  day.  In  my  heart  it  is  sin, 
sin.  I  do  not  love  it,  but  I  can  not  get  rid  of  it.  I 
break  God's  law  and  repent,  and  break  God's  law 
and  repent.  My  heart  is  made  sore  on  account  of 
it,  and  my  thought  is  from  day  to  day,  that  the  end 
of  it  will  be  eternal  death."  Here  he  paused  to  wipe 
away  his  tears.  His  wife  then  remarked :  "Thus  it 
is  when  he  asks  a  blessing  before  eating;  his  tears 
often  flow."  He  then  said:  "Great  love  to  God  is 
the  cause.  When  I  retire  for  prayer,  I  often  weep, 
so  that  for  a  time  I  cannot  utter  a  word.  My  mind 
does  not  turn  upon  anything  that  is  made,  but  rises 
and  fixes  upon  God,  and  feels  so  much  1ove,  that  I 
weep  and  pray  together.     I  have  stayed  at  home  and 


1830.  105 

kept  my  feelings  to  myself — have  not  conversed  with 
my  neighbors;  but  my  wife  has  urged  me  out,  to 
come  and  converse  with  the  teachers.  I  have  come. 
You  know  my  thoughts.  Tell  me  what  they  mean? 
I  am  greatly  afraid  of  the  sins  of  my  heart."  Such, 
arc  the  feelings  which  a  knowledge  of  God's  Words 
produces  in  the  minds. of  those  heathen  around  us  in 
very  many  instances. 

The  box  of  books  you  sent  were  safely  received 
in  six  months  from  the  date  of  your  letter,  and  were 
very  acceptable.  All  that  is  printed  at  these  Islands 
is  in  the  Hawaiian  language,  for  the  exclusive  benefit 
of  the  natives.  But  many  ships  touch  at  these  Islands 
in  need  of  instruction,  in  need  of  Bibles,  in  need  of 
tracts.  Our  own  countrymen,  too,  who  have  left  a 
sailor's  life  for  a  residence  on  these  Islands,  are  in 
perishing  need  of  some  friendly  messengers  to  turn 
their  feet  from  their  downward  course.  I  have  dis- 
tributed some  of  those  you  sent  among  them,  and  I 
was  not  a  little  astonished,  a  few  weeks  ago,  to  find 
they  had  united  in  one  little  body,  about  a  dozen  of 
them  in  all,  and  had  purchased  a  suitable  house  for 
their  own  use,  to  be  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God, 
and  are  now  fitting  it  up  in  a  very  neat  and  suitable 
manner.  Time  only  will  show  in  what  this  beginning 
will  end ;  but  it  is  beyond  a  question  that  they  have 
many  serious  thoughts.  Eternity  is  a  dreadful  word 
to  them,  as  they  feel  that  without  holiness  no  man 
can  see  God. 


ARTICLE    LXVII. 

To   Mr.   and   Mrs.    Goodale,    Marlboro,   Mass. 

Kailua,  September,  1831. 

Dear  Sister: 

Last  June  the  General  Meeting  of  the  Mission 
was  held  at  Honolulu.  It  became  an  interesting  ques- 
tion, shall  /  make  one  of  the  party,  or,  in  such  soli- 
tary circumstances,  remain  behind  ?  Friends  at  Ho- 
nolulu had  interested  themselves  in  my  prospects,  by 
sending  a  vessel  for  our  accommodation,  with  invi- 
tations for  us  to  come  down.  The  way  was  opened, 
and  duty  seemed  to  require  that  I  place  myself  within 
the  reach  of  medical  skill.  We  sailed  on  board  the 
brig  Waverly  with  our  whole  family.  Messrs.  Bishop 
and  Ruggles  likewise  accompanied  us.  We  were  ac- 
commodated on  deck  at  first,  both  night  and  day.  I 
congratulated  myself  in  being  placed  in  circumstances 
of  safety.  But  during  the  darkness  of  the  third  night, 
we  entered  the  channel  between  Hawaii  and  Maui. 
The  wind  was  high,  the  sea  boisterous,  the  vessel 
rolled,  sea-sickness  increased,  the  water  dashed  over 
the  deck,  and  to  escape  being  drenched,  we  were 
obliged,  for  the  first  time,  to  retire  to  the  cabin. 
After  reaching  my  couch  below,  I  alluded  to  the 
Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  as  ever  standing  associated 
in  my  mind  with  the  cabin  of  a  native  vessel. 

At  length  we  passed  the  tumultuous  channel.  Our 
sea-sickness  subsided.  We  slept.  My  sleep  was  some- 
how interrupted.  It  is  because  my  couch  is  so  in 
heaps.      I    arose   and   smoothed   it,    again    slumbered, 

106 


1831.  107 

again  arose  and  smoothed  my  couch.     This  I  several 
limes  repeated.     At  length  truth  at  once  flashed  upon 
my  mind.    What  does  all  this  mean?    My  first  thought 
was,   there  is  no   chance  of  safety,  but  by  being  re- 
stored to  pure  air,  the  bilge  water  was  so  very  offen- 
sive.    1  hastened  to  the  deck,  clambered  over  the  com- 
panion-way, the  door  being  kept  closed  and  fastened, 
and  availed  myself  of  the  best  accommodations  of  the 
place,  the  body  of  a  tree,  on  and  around  which  a  mul- 
titude of  natives  were  reclining.     I  begged  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton   to    return   to   the    sea-sick    children,   while    I    re- 
mained alone.    I  looked  off  upon  the  dark  black  water, 
and  thought  of  the  precious  names  of  home,  physician, 
sister.     The  tears  rushed  into  my  eyes,  but  thinking 
them  unseasonable  when  everything  depended  on  my 
own  exertions,   I  checked  the  impulse,  and  returned 
them  to  their  sockets.     Vet  in  bringing  my  mind  to 
my  circumstances  there  was  a  struggle.     I  called  to 
mind  the  duty  and  the  privilege  of  laying  myself  with 
childlike  simplicity  and  submission,  into  the  hands  of 
my  heavenly  Father,  and  awaiting  his  will.     Tried  to 
do  so,  and  there  was  peace.    I  spent  a  short  time  only 
on  deck,  before  I  awoke  one  of  our  natives,  to  signify 
to  Mr.  Thurston  that  I  wished  to  return,  and  bid  him 
awake   Mr.    Bishop.     After   we   had   all   reached   the 
cabin,  I  said  to  them,  "I  am  called  upon  in  this  place 
to  ask  the  aid  of  you  all."     Mr.  Bishop  proposed  tak- 
ing opium  until  reaching  Lahaina.     I  answered,  "No, 
it  is  too  late;  and  if  my  apprehensions  are  just,  no 
time  is  to  be  lost."    The  first  embarrassment  that  we 
felt,  was  that  we  were  in  utter  darkness ;  for  during 
the  forepart  of  the  night,  we  had  trimmed,  replen- 
ished  and    lighted   the   only   lamp   we  could   find  on 
board.     Being  so  often  called  to  repeat  this  care,  we 
left  off  in  despair.     Now  one  more  effort  was  made, 
and   our  flickering  lamp  appeared   as   if   invigorated 


108  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

by  sleep.  Again,  the  hand-basket  which  contained 
the  keys  of  trunks  had  been  misplaced.  A  whole  half 
hour  had  been  spent  the  day  before  in  unavailing 
search.  Means  were  soon  found  to  burst  the  lock  of 
a  single  trunk,  which  would  supply  all  the  wants  of 
the  emergency.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Ruggles  re- 
paired with  the  children  to  the  deck.  Mr.  Thurston 
and  Mr.  Bishop  alone  remained.  Everything  was  in 
due  order.  In  one  half  hour  from  the  time  a  general 
movement  was  made,  infant  cries  from  the  cabin 
apprised  those  on  deck  of  what  was  passing  below. 
Scarce  was  I  informed  of  the  danger  that  the  child's 
breath  might  be  stopped  on  the  very  threshold  of  life, 
when  the  light  expired,  and  its  cries  ceased  altogether. 
"Silence  and  Darkness,  solemn  sisters !"  The  lamp 
was  passed  upon  deck,  through  an  avenue  overhead. 
"A  light,  a  light."  It  was  renewed,  returned,  and  a 
spark  still  more  precious  again  lighted  up.  The  child 
was  safe.  But  the  mother's  life  was,  ere  long,  felt  to 
be  in  danger.  Never  before  had  I  so  much  reason  to 
feel  that  I  had  reached  the  isthmus  which  lies  be- 
tween this  and  the  invisible  world.  My  medical  vol- 
ume I  had  put  into  the  trunk.  It  was  taken  there- 
from, and  the  two  divines  sat  on  the  stairs  of  the 
companion-way,  to  study  out  their  medical  lesson. 
After  the  lapse  of  eight  hours,  the  feelings  of  danger 
were  exchanged  for  those  of  unmixed  gratitude.  All 
was  safe.  In  the  fullness  of  my  heart  I  repeated  the 
beautiful   words   of  the  poet: 

"There    is    mercy    in    ev'ry   place: 

And  mercy,   encouraging   thought, 
Gives    even    affliction    new    grace, 
And   reconciles  man   to  his   lot." 

We  were  now  near  Lahaina.  Messrs.  Bishop 
and  Ruggles  wrote  notes  to  Mr.  Richards,  stating 
our  situation,  and  requesting  a  double  canoe.     When 


1831.  109 

intelligence  reached  the  shore,  Miss  Ogden  wept,  and 
Mrs.  Richards  sobbed  aloud.  Messrs.  Andrews  and 
Whitney  came  off  in  a  double  canoe.  Meantime  my 
husband  and  I  were  busy  in  the  cabin.  Before  leav- 
ing rav  berth,  I  erected  my  arm  from  the  elbow  to 
the  tip  of  the  fingers,  thinking  in  length  it  equaled 
the  height  of  the  opening  to  my  couch.  But  it  fell 
short  by  several  inches.  The  other  side,  head  and 
foot,  top  and  bottom  were  all  alike  closely  boarded. 
According  to  my  early  educated  eye,  it  seemed  like 
a  cupboard.  Mr.  Thurston  first  smoothed  down  Mrs. 
Thurston,  and  laid  her  aside  on  the  top  of  a  row  of 
barrels,  standing  on  their  ends,  near  the  companion- 
way.  There  she  lay  in  her  traveling  dress,  ready  for 
onward  travel,  looking  just  as  she  did  when  she  left 
her  home. 

Above  and  below  we  were  all  in  readiness  to  de- 
part. Mr.  Thurston  took  me  in  his  arms  like  a  child 
and  carried  me  on  deck.  Mr.  Bishop  then  assisted 
him  in  swinging  me  over  the  side  of  the  vessel,  where 
was  a  mattress  supported  by  Messrs.  Andrews  and 
Whitney,  and  by  them  let  down  onto  the  elevated 
arms  which  connected  the  double  canoe.  On  reach- 
ing the  shore,  we  were  met  by  Mr.  Richards,  Mrs. 
Andrews  and  Miss  Ogden.  I  was  borne  on  the  mat- 
tress by  natives  to  Mr.  Richards'  house.  On  enter- 
ing the  gate,  the  mattress  was  necessarily  brought  up 
together,  and  in  so  doing,  I  became  as  completely 
enclosed  as  if  lying  in  a  coffin.  Xo  farther  conscious- 
ness remained,  but  that  of  pressing  through  doors, 
turning  corners,  and  ascending  stairs.  At  length, 
1  was  let  down,  and  beheld  myself  lying  on  a  board 
floor,  in  the  middle  of  a  room,  with  plastered  walls  and 
glass  windows.  To  me,  who  had  spent  eight  years  in 
cottages  thatched  with  leaves,  with  mats  for  floors, 
and  doors  for  windows,  it  seemed  a  novel  scene,  and 
powerfully  reminded  me  of  the  days  of  other  years. 


110  Life    of   Lucy    G.    7' hurst  on. 

Here  I  found  Mrs.  Richards.  Both  she  and  her  hus- 
band received  me  with  a  freedom  and  hospitality  that 
made  me  feel  like  reaching  a  father's  house.  As  I  lay 
there,  with  all  my  friends  gathered  round  me  in  a 
circle,  Mrs.  Richards  said  to  me,  "Now  you  may  have 
your  choice  whom  to  have  to  dress  you  for  bed."  I 
replied,   "I   choose  Mr.  Thurston." 

At  the  expiration  of  a  week  after  reaching  La- 
haina,  Mr.  Thurston  went  on  to  Honolulu,  to  the 
"General  Meeting"  of  the  Mission.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  every  brother  on  the  Island.  I  was  still 
confined  to  my  bed,  but  I  had  a  medical  book  laid 
beneath  my  pillow,  dishes  brought  into  the  chamber 
for  the  use  of  the  three  children,  and  our  native 
man,  under  the  general  direction  of  Mrs.  Richards, 
prepared  and  brought  up  refreshments.  Thus  I 
guided  my  family  and  took  care  of  my  babe,  having 
for  neighbors  Mrs.  Richards  below,  and  Mrs.  An- 
drews in  the  next  house.  Mrs.  Andrews  came  in 
every  morning,  and  washed  and  dressed  the  babe. 

Had  the  strength  of  the  station  been  called  out 
at  this  time,  there  would  have  been  found  three  feeble 
females,  and  ten  children  all  under  eleven  years  of 
age.  After  a  three  weeks'  absence,  our  company  re- 
turned, and  I  was  able  to  go  below,  and  join  them 
in  surrounding  the  social  board,  and  the  domestic 
altar.  The  next  day  we  went  on  board  the  vessel. 
Three  more  days  and  nights  of  oppressive  heat  and 
sea-sickness,  with  three  children  and  the  infant,  all 
involved  in  the  common  calamity,  all  prostrate  on  the 
floor  by  the  side  of  their  mother,  when  we  reached 
Kailua,  and  our  own  home.  There  we  reared  an  altar 
to  the  God  of  all  comfort,  who  had  been  mindful  of 
us   in  our  low  estate,  who  had  graciously  prospered 


1832.  Ill 

our  way,  and  brought  us  in  peace  to  our  own  habi- 
tation. 

Your  loving  Sister, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 
ARTICLE    LXVIII. 

To  the   Second  Mrs.  Parkhurst. 

Kailua,  November  14th,  1832. 

My  Dear  Sister: 

There  is  no  distant  friend  on  earth  toward  whom 
my  heart  turns  more  frequently,  and  more  affection- 
ately, than  to  the  successor  of  my  departed  sister  Per- 
sis.  Of  her  orphan  children  I  can  say :  "Like  Reuben 
and  Simeon,  they  are  mine;"  and  all  that  care  and 
love  which  they  are  made  to  experience,  excites  in  my 
heart  the  same  gratitude  as  if  done  for  my  own  chil- 
dren. For  twelve  years  past  I  have  been  in  the  heart 
of  a  nation,  who  have  just  washed  their  hands  from 
the  guilt  of  infanticide ;  yet  their  standard  falls  in- 
finitely short  of  those  who  have  been  rocked  in  the 
cradle  of  piety  and  intelligence ;  so  that  an  enlight- 
ened, pious,  devoted  mother,  seems  to  me  one  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  female  piety  which  this  world  ex- 
hibits. And  when  that  link  that  nature  gives  is  want- 
ing to  bind  one  to  those  self-denying  duties,  it  must 
be  a  service  lovely  in  the  eyes  of  angels,  well  pleas- 
ing to  God. 

As  you  express  a  wish  to  know  what  articles  I 
seldom  get,  and  most  want,  I  will  tell  you  what  one 
of  my  missionary  sisters  said  to  me.  "Mrs.  Thurs- 
ton, I  think  you  had  better  get  some  new  bonnets  for 
your   daughters."     My   reply  was :     "These  are  very 


112  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

good,  they  are  in  no  wise  shabby."'  She  continued  r 
"It  would  be  an  expense,  but  bonnets  with  more  plain- 
ness  and  less  luster  would  be  a  better  example.  We 
must  look  at  example."  I  replied:  "It  is  a  good  ex- 
ample to  give  durability  to  articles."  "It  is,  and  I  ap- 
prove of  it  in  you;  still  I  think  your  daughters  had 
better  have  some  new  bonnets."  I  replied :  "I  have 
neither  time  nor  means.  If  other  people  think  so, 
they  must  furnish  them."  The  fact  is,  seven  years 
ago  a  kind  missionary  sister  of  Honolulu  made  and 
sent  my  two  oldest  daughters  some  light  silk  hats, 
decorated  with  artificial  flowers.  For  dress  these 
have  ever  since  been  used  up  to  the  present  time. 

A  northern  constitution  can  not  labor  here  as  in 
America.  One  of  our  missionaries  of  much  observa- 
tion and  wisdom  remarked:  "Had  the  ladies  shrank 
from  those  active  labors  which  are  performed  in  the 
New  England  States,  before  trial  had  been  made,  I 
should  have  imputed  it  to  indolence.  But  now,  by 
experience,  we  knozv  the  consequences,  and  it  makes 
me  angry  to  see  any  one  attempt  it."  We  all  employ 
female  cooks ;  yet  we  have  to  make  them  out  of  raw 
materials,  and  withal  submit  to  lesser  evils  in  order 
to  avoid  greater.  It  afforded  me  some  amusement  to 
hear  one  of  the  newly  arrived  ladies  expatiate  on  na- 
tive neatness.  While  at  Honolulu,  happening  to  step 
into  the  cook  house,  she  saw  a  negligent  fellow  peel- 
ing potatoes  for  the  table  urith  his  fingers!  She  said: 
"I  would  tell  them  to  make  use  of  a  knife  and  fork." 
Yes,  and  as  soon  as  the  white  person  turns  her  back, 
finding  himself  in  the  predicament  of  David  with  his 
armor,  he  throws  down  the  awkward  irons ;  for  with- 
out any  lessons,  and  without  knowing  that  such  un- 
wieldy utensils  had  been  invented  he  could  ever  from 


1832.  113 

his  childhood,  with  those  facilities  which  nature  fur- 
nishes, peel  potatoes  with  great  dexterity. 

Your  husband,  in  his  letter,  remarked  that  he  did 
not  see  why  our  children  should  not  learn  the  native 
language,  and  be  taught  in  connection  with  the  na- 
tives, etc.  Just  so  we  felt,  just  so  we  conducted  our 
operations  for  more  than  two  years.  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain's children  were  taught  in  the  same  school,  and 
ranged  in  the  same  classes  with  our  interesting  schol- 
ars gathered  from  among  the  heathen.  Mr.  Ellis,  on 
a  visit  from  the  Society  Islands,  was  the  first  one  to 
open  our  eyes  to  the  evils  of  such  a  course.  Nozv, 
natives  themselves  are  our  monitors.  No  one  is  more 
particular  than  Kapiolani ;  and  if  in  her  intercourse 
among  the  families  of  the  Mission,  she  observes  na- 
tive language  on  the  lips  of  the  children,  or  even  if 
their  eyes  speak  looks  of  interest  and  familiarity  with 
the  natives,  she  notes  it  with  feelings  of  the  deepest 
pity.  Even  Kaahnmanu  sighed  for  the  privilege  of 
having  her  little  adopted  son  David,  of  royal  birth, 
her  future  heir,  taken  into  one  of  our  families,  and 
prohibited  the  use  of  his  own  native  language.  I  had 
the  offer  of  a  trust  so  responsible.  Yet  who  would 
dare  undertake  thus  to  educate  a  prince,  cutting  him 
off  from  all  intercourse  with  his  noble  relatives  and 
interested  countrymen,  and  still  in  their  very  midst? 
He  is  a  little  boy  of  noble  mien,  intelligent  and  inter- 
esting; and  it  fills  our  souls  with  sadness  to  listen  to 
the  impurities  which  are  intermixed  with  his  infan- 
tile prattle.  He  obtains  language,  not  from  the  printed 
works  of  missionaries,  where  the  precious  is  separated 
from  the  evil,  but  as  it  floats  in  society  around  him; 
and  aside  from  the  pollution  of  heathenism,  native 
converts  to  Christianity  fail  of  being  suitable  models 
for  a  child's  imitation.  They  may  be  clothed,  they 
may  be  Christianized,  yet  from  want  of  early  culture, 


114  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

from  being  children  of  nature,  there  is  an  utter  desti- 
tution of  those  feelings  of  delicacy  which  in  refined 
society  seem  inseparable  from  virtuous  tastes  and  prin- 
ciples. Now,  in  estimating  the  character  of  Sandwich 
Islanders,  we  pass  over  what  can  not  be  corrected ; 
it  is  a  tarnish  which  reminds  us  of  the  pit  from  whence 
they  were  digged.  Not  so  with  the  children  of  Ameri- 
can extract.  Our  patrons  expect,  the  world  expect, 
the  heathen  themselves  expect,  that  they  will  rise  up 
and  reflect  honor  upon  an  enlightened  origin. 

Well  might  St.  Paul  add,  in  enumerating  his  trials 
and  labors,  the  care  of  the  churches.  We  looked  at 
the  vine  planted  in  this  heathen  soil,  that  it  should 
bring  forth  grapes,  and  behold  wild  grapes !  Well 
might  we  expect  defection,  for  here  the  flames  of  per- 
secution have  never  been  lighted,  and  to  become  a 
member  of  a  church  gave  to  a  common  person  the  in- 
fluence of  an  inferior  chief.  They  acquire  the  lan- 
guage of  Canaan,  too,  with  so  much  dexterity,  that 
the  defect  cannot  be  detected  in  pronouncing  the  word 
Shibboleth.  Of  one  hundred  and  eight  who  have 
been  received  to  the  church  at  this  place,  eleven  have 
been  suspended  from  its  privileges ;  and  what  is  an 
aggravating  circumstance,  they  were  all,  with  one  ex- 
ception, leading  characters  in  schools  and  in  meet- 
ings. The  crime  is  adultery.  All  profess  repentance. 
One  of  the  number,  who  lay  smarting  under  the  salu- 
tary castigations  of  her  infidel  husband's  wrath  for 
nearly  a  year,  has  exhibited  a  spirit  which  has  called 
back,  not  only  the  affections  and  confidences  of  the 
church,  but  of  her  husband  also,  who  now  treats  her 
with  every  possible  kindness.  In  the  midst  of  these 
troubles  I  have  had  in  my  hand  a  complete  copy  of 
the  New  Testament,  printed  in  the  Hawaiian  lan- 
guage.    It  has  been  as  an  anchor  to  my  soul.     For 


1833.  115 

here  a  door  is  open,  to  communicate  blessings  to  un- 
born multitudes,  which  no  man  can  shut. 

Your  affectionate  Sister, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 

ARTICLE    LXIX. 

Extracts  from  Letters. 

Kailua,  September  3,  1833. 

OF  all  the  scenes  of  my  life,  none  seem  so  precious 
and  vivid  at  this  distant  period,  as  those  of  our 
paternal  home.  I  often  think  of  you,  and  frequently 
do  it  by  way  of  contrast.  On  Sabbath  mornings,  while 
we  are  at  breakfast,  you  are  in  church.  In  the  winter, 
when  you  are  sitting  by  a  warm  fire,  we  open  the  doors 
to  admit  the  refreshing  breeze.  You  ride  in  a  car- 
riage or  on  horseback ;  we  sail  in  vessels  and  canoes. 
You  see  nature  stripped  of  its  foliage,  and  covered 
with  snow ;  we  have  perpetually  before  our  eyes  a 
verdant  landscape.  In  your  intercourse  with  your 
neighbors,  you  speak  English ;  we  Hawaiian.  You 
send  your  children  to  school ;  we  keep  ours  at  home. 
Yours  can  ramble  unattended,  from  field  to  field,  and 
from  house  to  house ;  ours  are  cooped  up  in  their 
own  enclosure,  and  beyond  the  limits  of  that  they 
never  are  permitted  to  go  unattended  by  a  parent. 
Every  week  or  day  yours  are  conversant  with  so- 
ciety ;  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Bishop's  family,  all 
the  friends  with  whom  ours  exchange  thoughts,  are 
scattered  over  the  Islands  at  different  distances,  from 
sixteen  to  two  hundred  miles.  Yours  go  to  the  sanc- 
tuary for  instruction  ;  ours,  when  they  repair  thither, 
listen  to  language  which  we  do  not  wish  them  to  learn, 
and  which  is  to  them  unintelligible.     It  is  as  much  my 


116  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

regular  work  to  select  suitable  and  interesting  pieces 
for  them  to  read  while  there,  as  it  is  for  their  father 
to  prepare  a  sermon  for  the  people. 

I  often  think  of  the  delight  which  my  own  daugh- 
ters would  experience  could  they  associate  in  labors  of 
love  with  kindred  helpers.  But  their  situation  is  iso- 
lated. Last  week  they  took  leave  of  the  only  remain- 
ing daughter  of  the  mission  of  corresponding  age, 
who  removes  with  her  parents  to  their  native  land. 
They  felt  the  separation  very  deeply.  So  did  their 
mother.  Yet  they  are  happy  in  remaining  in  this  land. 
They  know  not  a' better.  They  love  their  homes,  their 
books,  their  friends,  the  climate,  and  they  love  to  have 
their  parents  teach  the  natives. 

We  lately  received  a  visit  from  a  very  intelligent 
sea-captain.  He  remarked :  "I  am  a  great  friend  to 
missionaries,  and  their  cause,  but  I  do  not  think  it 
right  to  have  families  here.  I  told  my  mate  that  I 
would  assist  men  in  coming  out,  but  I  never  would 
give  ladies  a  passage  on  my  ship.  1  would  do  every- 
thing in  my  power  to  assist  them  back  again ;  and  to 
remove  children,  I  would  give  up  my  own  berth  and 
sleep  on  deck.  It  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Thurston,  that 
you  should  be  relieved,  after  having  been  here  so 
many  years,  and  your  children  so  large,  by  going  home 
and  staying  a  few  years.  It  would  be  of  great  import- 
ance to  them."  I  smiled  at  his  freedom,  and  loved 
him  for  his  sympathy.  Mr.  Thurston  answered  him 
by  saying,  that  in  such  circumstances,  a  missionary 
needed  a  family  in  order  to  support  his  own  character, 
and  that  women  were  as  willing  to  come  as  men  were. 
"I  know,"  he  said,  "they  are  willing  to  come,  but 
children  are  the  sufferers."  After  he  retired  one  re- 
marked:  "If  he  thinks  the  way  is  for  men  only  to 
come  out,  he  had  better  go  himself  and  commence  a 


1834.  117 

new  station,  and  then  he  will  know  what  it  is  to  live 
alone  in  such  circumstances."  He  felt  for  the  chil- 
dren of  missionaries,  and  well  he  might,  for  there  is 
not  a  class  of  children  upon  the  face  of  our  earth, 
who  are  the  offspring"  of  Christian  parents,  for  whom 
my  sympathies  have  been  so  much  moved.  When 
all  the  host  of  God's  elect  comes  up  as  one  man  to  the 
great  work  of  evangelizing  the  natives,  and  they  be- 
come enlightened  and  ready  to  sustain  measures, 
which  the  American  Board,  from  their  superior 
knowledge,  would  probably  even  now  approve,  then 
will  a  greater  latitude  be  allowed  to  those  who  go 
forth  to  fight  the  Lord's  battles  in  the  camp  of  the 
enemies  than  was  ever  thought  of  in  former  years. 

We  received  letters  from  our  missionaries  at  the 
Marquesas  the  other  day.  Their  situation  there  is 
quite  unlike  what  ours  is  now  at  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
But  it  reminds  me  of  other  years.  Mrs.  Armstrong- 
writes  that  she  would  as  soon  trust  herself  in  the 
mouth  of  a  lion,  as  out  of  the  house  alone.  We  who 
have  seen  society  in  its  heathen  state,  can  better  form 
an  idea  of  the  import  of  that  expression,  and  better 
realize  the  dangers  with  which  she  is  surrounded.  Let 
all  remember  those  thus  situated  in  the  dark  places 
of  the  earth. 

ARTICLE    LXX. 

To   Rev.   Mr.    and  Mrs.   Goodell,    Constantinople,    Turkey. 

Kailua,  October  24,  1834. 

Dear   Cousins,   William  and  Abigail: 

Last  June  when  we  went  down  to  Oahu  to  the 
General  Meeting  of  the  Missionaries,  we  repaired  im- 
mediately to   Mr.   Bingham's.     His   family  was   soon 


118  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

collected  in  the  parlor,  and  it  was  at  once  suggested 
to  our  minds  that  the  presence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whit- 
ney was  alone  wanting  to  make  out  all  that  remained 
of  the  pioneers  of  our  mission.  Being  in  a  neighbor- 
ing house,  they  were  soon  called  in.  There  were  no 
children  by  their  side.  They,  four  in  number,  were 
far  separted  from  their  parents  and  from  each  other. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bingham  appeared  with  two  little  chil- 
dren. Two  had  been  sent  home,  and  two  they  had 
laid  in  their  graves.  Ourselves,  with  our  four  chil- 
dren, alone  appeared  an  unbroken  family.  Mr.  Whit- 
ney remarked  that  his  heart  never  came  so  near  break- 
ing as  when  he  sent  away  his  last  child.  But  he  said : 
"If  I  had  not  sent  away  my  children,  1835  would  not 
find  me  at  the  Sandwich  Islands." 

It  was  after  learning  distressing  intelligence  from 
abroad,  that  Mr.  Thurston  said  to  me :  "You  must 
take  our  children  and  go  home  with  them."  I  an- 
swered: "It  is  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  the  General 
Meeting,  that  twenty  years  is  as  long  a  service  in  this 
climate  as  can  be  expected  of  any  one  missionary. 
Such  a  term  would  carry  our  two  oldest  daughters 
up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  and  eighteen,  and  our  son 
to  twelve.  In  our  situation,  with  our  regulations,  I 
am  willing  to  sustain  maternal  responsibilities  in  this 
land  so  long,  but  no  longer.  Let  us  perform  our 
measure  of  service  within  that  period,  and  then  all 
go  home  together."  This  was  entering  upon  a  new 
subject  never  before  alluded  to  during  the  struggles 
of  fourteen  years.  But,  thought  I,  how  will  such 
sounds  fall  on  the  ears  of  our  associates,  destitute  as 
we  are  of  any  such  passports  as  the  dyspepsia,  liver 
complaint,  etc.  However,  I  suggested  the  plan  to  Mr. 
Bishop,  our  associate,  and  was  a  little  surprised,  a  few 
days  after,  to  hear  him  say  it  was  a  measure  which 


1834.  119 

lie  cordially  approved.  As  opportunity  occurred  I 
conversed  with  Mrs.  Richards  on  the  subject.  She 
thought  that  retaining-  a  child  in  this  land  for  a  period 
of  eighteen  years  was  incurring  too  great  a  risk.  Yet, 
she  said,  "our  young  missionaries  are  not  prepared 
to  listen  to  your  suggestion  ;  you  had  better  not  name 
it  to  them."  Several  months  after,  coming  in  contact 
with  one  of  our  young  members,  I  was  interrogated 
respecting  the  future  prospects  of  our  children,  with 
an  interest  and  sympathy,  which  will  endear  her  to 
my  heart.  To  the  inquiry,  "Can  you  see  your  way 
through?"  I  replied,  "I  have  dared  to  say,  that  if  the 
God  of  nature  upholds  me  during  a  period  of  six  more 
years,  I  shall  then  hold  myself  in  readiness  to  quit  the 
country ;  yet  it  does  not  depend  on  us,  but  upon  our 
associates  and  patrons."  The  answer  was:  "No  one 
on  either  side  of  the  ocean  can  object  to  such  a  meas- 
ure." There  the  subject  rests,  and  my  heart  is  at  rest. 
For  the  present,  I  only  wish  to  stand  in  my  lot,  and 
do  my  appointed  work. 

At  our  last  General  Meeting,  no  less  than  forty- 
seven  children  of  our  mission  were  brought  together. 
The  missionaries  daily  assembled  in  a  retired  school- 
house,  near  the  mission  houses,  so  that  the  children 
were  allowed  at  any  hour  to  repair  thither.  I  often 
attended,  and  was  sometimes  amused  to  see  the  scene 
which  was  spread  out  before  us.  One  father  with  a 
child  on  his  knee,  another  slumbering  at  his  feet,  a 
third  walking  to  and  fro  at  the  vacant  end  of  the 
house,  leading  a  little  one  by  the  hand.  Here  a  boy 
by  his  father's  side,  making  dogs  and  horses  not  to 
be  distinguished ;  there  a  group  formed,  trying  their 
skill  in  drawing  geometrical  diagrams,  or  perhaps 
braiding  rushes ;  while  at  a  little  distance  others  would 
be  engaged  with  a  book,  or  plying  their  needles.     In 


120  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

this  way  I  have  seen  twenty  children  dispersed  through 
the  house,  while  their  fathers  were  engaged  in  their 
sage  discussions. 

Mrs.  Judson  assigns  as  a  reason  why  a  missionary 
should  have  a  wife,  because  she  "presumes  Mrs. 
Marshman  does  more  good  in  her  school,  than  one 
half  the  ministers  in  America."  I  do  not  know  as 
to  that ;  but  in  our  situation,  I  approve  the  motto, 
that  "The  missionary  best  serves  his  generation  who 
serves  the  public,  and  his  wife  best  serves  her  genera- 
tion who  serves  her  family." 

Until  about  two  years  ago,  I  uniformly  attended 
church  every  Sabbath  when  my  health  permitted,  al- 
ways taking  all  the  children  with  me,  even  down  to 
babyhood.  But  as  they  were  in  the  same  predicament 
as  the  poor  unlettered  hearers  of  Jesuits,  whose  devo- 
tions were  performed  in  Latin,  they  took  their  English 
books  with  them.  So,  while  the  minister  preached, 
they  read.  However,  as  our  oldest  daughter  increased 
in  years,  the  practice  of  walking  half  a  mile  beneath 
a  tropical  sun,  and  then  being  seated  in  a  crowded 
assembly,  for  the  sake  of  being  within  sounds,  which 
she  could  neither  understand,  nor  was  allowed  to  utter, 
became  exceedingly  irksome,  and  many  a  time  has  she 
returned  home  in  tears,  saying,  "Mama,  what  do  I 
go  to  church  for?"  To  require  her  statedly  to  thus 
attend,  when  likely  to  imprint  on  her  mind  indelible 
impressions  of  pain,  connected  with  the  day  of  God, 
and  the  house  of  prayer,  appeared  to  me  the  greatest 
trial  attending  a  continued  residence  in  this  land  of 
exile.  I  proposed  an  alternative,  thai  of  staying  at 
home,  and  having  the  hour  dedicated  to  religious  in- 
struction in  our  own  language.  The  children  acqui- 
esced readily  in  this.  So  did  their  father.  '  I  explained 
the  matter  to  the  natives  at  a  Fridav  Female  Meeting. 


1834.  121 

The  purport  of  my  remarks  was  as  follows :  "You  see 
how  it  is  at  Kiauhou  and  at  Kekaha.  They  have  no 
teacher.  Every  Sabbath  Mr.  Thurston  or  Mr.  Bishop 
goes  and  teaches  them.  We  think  it  right  for  them 
to  leave  their  places  in  the  church  so  that  they  may 
go  and  instruct  the  destitute.  There  are  others  in 
Kailua  who  are  destitute ;  who  shall  instruct  them  ? 
They  are  the  children  of  your  teacher.  Their  young 
friends  and  relatives  in  America  write  and  tell  them 
of  their  meetings  and  of  their  schools.  On  the  Sab- 
bath they  are  blessed  with  privileges.  Mr.  Bingham's 
oldest  daughter,  and  Mr.  Ruggles'  oldest  daughter, 
and  Mr.  Whitney's  three  oldest  children  have  all  been 
sent  away  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  that  good  land. 
Our  children  remain  in  an  isolated  state.  They  go 
to  the  church,  but  there  is  no  instruction  for  them  in 
that  place.  They  return  home  and  weep;  for  though 
they  see  their  own  father  in  the  sanctuary,  he  speaks 
not  to  them :  his  voice  never  reaches  their  hearts. 
For  your  sakes  it  is,  that  he  labors ;  for  your  sakes  it 
is  that  his  children  are  alone  cut  off  from  kindred  and 
country.  Yet  they  love  to  have  it  so.  They  love  to 
dwell  among  you,  and  to  have  their  parents  teach  you. 
One  thing  only  they  ask,  and  they  ask  it  with  tears. 
Let  the  return  of  the  Sabbath  bring  privileges  to  us, 
— let  us  attend  on  instruction  in  our  own  language. 
In  consideration  of  these  feelings,  and  of  their  desti- 
tute and  exiled  state,  I  have  thought  fit,  while  their 
father  is  devoted  to  you,  to  be  myself  devoted  to  them. 
The  same  bell  which  calls  you  to  church,  assembles 
them  at  their  own  home,  to  be  taught  the  worship  and 
the  will  of  their  Maker.  And  you,  mothers,  when 
you  see  me  feel  the  importance  of  making  such  pro- 
visions for  my  children,  if  you  follow  my  example, 
you  will  every  Sabbath  lead  yours  to  your  place  of 


122  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

worship  and  instruction.  In  this  respect,  as  you  know 
what  I  do,  'go  and  do  likewise.'  "  When  I  thus  pre- 
sented the  subject  to  their  minds,  they  wept,  and  with 
much  good  sense  and  good  feeling  said :  "Yes,  it  is 
right.  You  take  care  of  your  children,  but  we  do 
not  take  care  of  ours."  Now,  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  people  of  Kailua  any  more  feel  that  they  may  stay 
at  home  because  I  stay  to  teach  the  children,  than  that 
they  may  stay  at  home  because  Mr.  Thurston's  place 
is  empty  when  he  goes  to  teach  the  people  at  Kiauhou. 
Nor  do  I  believe,  in  my  situation,  that  to  go  and  sit 
in  the  church,  as  the  people  of  God  sit,  is  a  service 
any  more  acceptable  to  the  good  Shepherd,  than  to 
stay  away  and  "feed  his  lambs." 

I  however  have  my  appointed  season  for  meeting 
a  Bible  class,  and  an  arithmetical  school,  at  which 
times  Mr.  Thurston  not  only  stands  sentinel,  but  im- 
proves the  opportunity  by  teaching  the  children  sacred 
music.  He  walked  in  one  day  after  dinner,  with  his 
singing  book  under  his  arm,  and  from  that  time  to 
this,  has  been  both  persevering  and  successful  in  his 
instructions.  We  style  him,  too,  our  "Professor  in 
the  Latin  Language,"  and  have  it  regularly  served  up 
at  the  conclusion  of  every  meal.  This  forms  one  of 
our  most  pleasant  exercises,  as  with  the  exception  of 
the  baby,  our  whole  family  circle  is  included.  I  joined 
iii  for  the  sake  of  relieving  their  father  as  much  as 
possible ;  and  besides  that,  I  could  be  companionable, 
and  in  this  manner  attach  the  children  to  their  home, 
to  their  studies,  to  their  parents, — turning  it  all  to 
the  formation  of  their  characters.  Their  other  studies 
are  under  my  direction,  such  as  grammar,  geography, 
history,  arithmetic,  philosophy,  etc.  I  have  adopted 
many  methods  of  management  by  way  of  conducting 
our  family  school,  but  in  nothing  have  I   succeeded 


1834.  123 

so  well  as  with  the  clock  and  bell.  At  eight  in  the 
morning  the  bell  rings,  which  brings  us  all  to  our  as- 
signed seats.  The  first  half  hour  in  silence  and  ap- 
plication, when  the  bell  gives  a  signal  for  release.  We 
then  all  engage  in  active  employments,  performing  the 
various  duties  which  go  to  promote  the  comfort  and 
happiness  of  the  family.  The  bell  rings  at  nine.  A" 
learn  punctuality  by  repairing  at  once  to  their  seats, 
and  to  their  studies.  Half  past  nine,  the  tinkling  of 
the  bell  is  heard,  and  whoever  wishes  may  be  released. 
Thus  we  pass  most  of  the  day  by  regular  half  hour 
diversions.  It  saves  from  indolence  and  yawning  be- 
neath a  tropic  sun ;  gives  an  impulse  in  circumstances 
where  there  is  nothing  to  stimulate,  and  to  system  adds 
interest  and  industry.  In  this  way,  too,  they  are  so 
under  the  direction  of  the  clock,  that  in  case  of  my 
absence,   lessons  are  not  interrupted. 

Were  our  oldest  children  sons,  I  would  by  no 
means  retain  them  here  till  they  were  far  advanced 
in  their  teens ;  no  longer,  indeed,  than  would  be  suit- 
able to  place  them  under  the  same  regulations  as 
daughters,  within  a  mother's  province.  Our  associ- 
ates tell  me :  "It  is  because  your  children  are  girls 
that  you  can  keep  them  within  prescribed  limits.  You 
will  never  be  able  to  do  so  with  a  boy."  My  reply  is: 
"On  no  other  conditions  will  I  retain  one  in  this 
land."  Our  son,  as  yet,  though  possessed  of  all  the 
feelings  of  the  boy,  and  a  share  of  his  grandfather's 
energy,  is  happy  within  his  mother's  realm.  I  do  not, 
however,  with  uplifted  hands  exclaim :  "What !  a  de- 
voted missionary  furnish  amusements  for  his  chil- 
dren !"  Our  home  affords  no  recreation  at  once  so 
happy  and  so  healthful  as  that  of  bathing  in  the  waters 
of  the  ocean,  with  a  high  sea,  and  a  spring  tide.  In 
order  to  the   enjoyment   of  this,   the   children   and    I 


124  Life  of  Lucy  G.   Thurston. 

form  a  party,  and  repair  half  a  mile  to  the  sea  shore, 
having  a  couple  of  natives  in  the  rear  to  carry  accom- 
modations, such  as  a  tent,  changes  of  raiment,  etc. 
Mr.  Thurston  compares  us  to  a  caravan  on  the  plains 
of  Shinar. 

A  wooden  house,  sent  out  to  Mr.  Stewart  by  his 
friends,  which  reached  here  after  he  had  returned  to 
the  United  States,  was  by  the  mission  sent  to  Mr. 
Thurston.  It  is  placed  in  our  large  retired  yard  of 
three  acres,  and  is  especially  devoted  to  the  accom- 
modation of  our  children.  It  has  been  to  me  like  a 
"great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 

Your  affectionate  Cousin, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE   LXXI. 

To  Mrs.  Coan,   Hilo,   Hawaii. 

Kailua,  August  6,  1835. 

Dear  Mrs.  Coan: 

We  remained  at  Honolulu  just  one  fortnight  after 
your  departure,  and  then  bade  them  an  affectionate 
adieu.  We  passed  by  Lahaina,  where  we  spent  two 
days ;  visited  the  grave  of  that  dear  child,  Mary 
Clarke ;  bade  a  last  farewell  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Chapin ; 
received  into  our  arms  the  new  born  babe  of  Mrs. 
Hitchcock,  ushered  into  life  a  few  hours  after  our 
arrival.  Such  is  life,  and  such  its  passing  scenes. 
Six  days  from  Oahu  brought  us  in  peace  to  our  own 
habitation.     O,  home,  sweet  home. 

None  of  the  children  were  propounded  to  become 
members  of  the  Mission  Church  before  leaving  Hono- 
lulu.    It  seemed  not  to  meet  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Rich- 


1835.  125 

ards  so  far  as  his  were  concerned,  nor  of  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton, so  far  as  his  were  concerned.  They  thought  that 
should  they  prove  promising  candidates  for  church 
membership,  they  could  be  both  propounded  and  re- 
ceived at  the  next  General  Meeting. 

When  my  heart  is  too  cold  to  feel  the  emotions 
of  gratitude  for  common  mercies,  I  can  thank  my 
heavenly  Father  for  giving  us  friends,  who  with  so 
much  interest  and  condescension  take  our  children  by 
the  hand,  and  help  to  give  such  an  impress  to  their 
characters,  as  will  fit  them  for  both  worlds.  The 
Savior  reward  every  such  effort  a  thousand  fold. 
Yours  affectionately, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXXII. 

To    Mrs.    Isabella    Homes,    Boston,    Mass. 

Kailua,  October  28,  1835. 

Dear  Mrs.  Homes: 

Sixteen  eventful  years  have  run  their  round  since 
that  interesting  period,  in  which  we  threw  a  die,  which 
can  be  equaled  only  by  that  which  is  thrown  for  eter- 
nity. Oft  as  the  mind  reverts  to  those  scenes,  your 
home  and  its  hospitalities  ever  come  up  with  vivid 
interest  before  the  mind.  Since  that  period  new  re- 
lations have  arisen  in  our  family ;  father  and  mother, 
son  and  daughter,  brother  and  sister.  We  behold  our- 
selves multiplied  to  six,  a  number  still  unbroken,  either 
by  death  or  separation. 

A  gentleman  who  visited  us  from  Boston,  told 
me  that  a  lady  from  that  place  wished  him  to  ascer- 
tain whether  the  missionaries  kept  servants  in  their 


126  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

families.  She  had  heard  so  by  way  of  a  young  lady 
who  had  visited  the  Islands,  but  "could  hardly  believe 
it."  In  our  own  house  we  have  the  various  classes 
of  master  and  mistress,  of  children,  and  of  household 
natives.  There  is  a  native  family  attached  to  our 
establishment,  whose  home  is  a  distinct  house  in  our 
common  yard.  They  give  us  their  services.  One  man 
simply  cultivates  taro,  two  miles  up  the  country,  and 
weekly  brings  down  a  supply  of  the  staff  of  life  for 
ourselves  and  our  dependants.  Another  man  every 
week  goes  up  the  mountain  to  do  our  washing.  Fre- 
quently he  finds  water  within  two  miles.  Often  he. is 
obliged  to  go  five,  sometimes  ten  miles.  He  likewise 
brings  fresh  water  for  the  daily  use  of  our  family, 
from  like  distances, — brings  it  (over  the  rugged  way, 
overspread  with  lava,)  in  large  gourd  shells  suspended 
at  the  two  ends  of  a  strong  stick,  the  heavy  weight 
resting  upon  his  shoulder.  In  like  manner  a  third 
man  brings  brackish  water  from  a  distance  of  half 
a  mile,  to  be  used  in  household  purposes.  He,  too, 
is  master  of  the  cookhouse,  a  thatched  roof,  with  the 
bare  ground  for  the  feet,  with  simply  stones  laid  up 
in  the  middle  for  a  fire  place.  No  chimney,  no  oven, 
no  cooking  stove.  But  there  are  the  facilities  of  a 
baking  kettle,  a  frying  pan,  a  pot,  and  a  sauce-pan. 
He,  who  under  the  old  dispensation,  officiated  as  priest 
to  one  of  their  gods,  now,  under  a  new  dispensation 
with  commendable  humility,  officiates  as  cook  to  a 
priest  and  his  family.  Then,  aid  in  the  care  of  the 
house,  of  sewing,  and  of  baby-hood,  devolves  on  fe- 
male hands. 

We  commenced  mission  life  with  other  ideas. 
Native  youth  resided  in  our  families,  and  so  far  as 
was  consistent,  we  granted  them  all  the  privileges  of 
companions  and  of  children.  Not  many  years  rolled 
on,  and  our  eyes  were  opened  to  behold  the  moral  pol- 


ft 

1 


*~  '<K". 


fP  if 


.•»! 


* 


*  "vf^T -'  • '  <■  *  1 1  Hi  1  *  'S ;» 


1835.  127 

lution  which,  unchecked,  had  here  been  accumulated 
for  ages.  I  saw,  but  it  was  parental  responsibilities 
which  made  me  so  emphatically  feel  the  horrors  of 
a  heathen  land.  I  had  it  ever  in  my  heart,  the  shafts 
of  sin  flying  from  every  direction  are  liable  to  pierce 
the  vitals  of  my  children.  It  was  in  these  circum- 
stances that  I  met  with  an  account  of  the  celebrated 
Mrs.  Fry's  first  visiting  the  wretched  inhabitants  of 
a  prison.  The  jailer,  after  vainly  endeavoring  to  dis- 
suade her  from  a  step  so  perilous,  said:  "At  least 
leave  your  watch  behind."  Mrs.  Fry  left  for  a  few 
hours  her  well  ordered  home.  But  had  she  taken  her 
children  with  her,  and  there  patiently  set  down  to  the 
formation  of  their  characters,  beneath  the  influence  of 
prison  inmates,  she  might  have  found  in  her  path 
some  such  trials  as  fall  to  a  mother's  lot  in  the  early 
years  of  a  mission. 

In  looking  at  my  own  situation,  no  comparison 
seemed  to  my  mind  as  just  and  vivid,  as  the  necessity 
of  walking  unhurt,  in  the  midst  of  red-hot  plough- 
shares. Here  it  was,  that  I  found  myself  soiled  with 
the  filth  of  the  slough  of  despond.  I  reviewed  the 
ground  on  which  I  stood.  The  heathen  world  were 
to  be  converted.  But  by  what  means  ?  Are  missiona- 
ries with  their  eyes  open  to  the  dangers  of  their  situ- 
ation, to  sit  conscientiously  down  to  the  labor  of  bring- 
ing back  a  revolted  race  to  the  service  of  Jehovah,  and 
in  so  doing  practically  give  over  their  own  children 
to  Satan?  If  children  must  be  sacrificed,  better  a 
thousand  times  leave  ignorant  mortals  to  do  it,  than 
for  us  who  know  our  Lord's  will.  In  investigating 
this  subject  in  the  heart  of  a  heathen  land,  I  could  see 
no  alternative  but  that  a  mother  go  to  work,  and  here 
form  a  moral  atmosphere  in  which  her  children  can 
live  and  move  without  inhaling  the  infection  of  moral 
death.  As  Jews  can  educate  children  to  be  Jews 
10 


128  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

among  Gentiles,  and  Roman  Catholics  can  educate 
children  to  be  Roman  Catholics  among  Protestants, 
so  let  Christian  Parents  educate  children  to  be  Chris- 
tians among  the  Heathen.  Some  decisive  steps  must 
be  taken  or  the  appalling  vices  of  the  heathen  will' 
become  inwrought  in  the  very  texture  of  our  chil- 
dren's characters.  The  first  important  measure  was 
to  prohibit  them  altogether  the  use  of  the  Hawaiian 
language,  thus  cutting  off  all  intercourse  between  them 
and  the  heathen.  This,  of  course,  led  to  the  familv 
regulation,  that  no  child  might  speak  to  a  native,  and 
no  native  might  speak  to  a  child,  babyhood  excepted,. 
This  led  to  another  arrangement,  that  of  having  sepa- 
rate rooms  and  yards  for  children,  and  separate  rooms 
and  yards  for  natives.  The  reason  of  this  separation, 
and  this  non-intercourse  was  distinctly  stated  to  house- 
hold natives,  and  to  native  visitors.  We  are  willing 
to  come  and  live  among  you,  that  you  may  be  taught 
the  good  way ;  but  it  would  break  our  hearts  to  see 
our  children  rise  up  and  be  like  the  children  of  Ha- 
waii, and  they  will  be  no  better  if  exposed  to  the  same- 
influences.  The  heathen  could  see  that  it  was  such 
evidence  of  parental  faithfulness  and  love,  as  was 
not  known  among  them,  and  looked  on  with  interest 
and  amazement  to  see  how  it  was  that  children  could 
be  trained  to  habits  of  obedience,  a  thing  they  never 
heard  of.  But  if  I  wished  to  make  trial,  they  would 
not  be  in  the  way.  Indeed,  they  would  like  to  see  the 
experiment  tried.  I  have  often  seen  them  shed  tears 
while  contrasting  our  children  with  their  own  degen- 
erate offspring.  When  in  the  dining  room  and  kitchen, 
attended  by  my  children,  nothing  was  uttered  in  the 
Hawaiian  language  but  by  way  of  giving  or  receiving 
directions  in  the  most  concise  terms.  When  the  hour 
for  instruction  came,  and  I  left  my  children  behind 


1835.  129 

me,  I  could  sit  clown  with  the  same  circle,  and  the  re- 
straint was  removed.  Thus  they  learned  that  in  the 
presence  of  my  children  I  was  the  mother,  and  that 
when  alone  in  their  own  presence,  I  was  the  compan- 
ion and  the  teacher.  Thus  they  were  situated,  at- 
tached to  our  household,  but  excluded  the  privileges 
of  children.  To  me,  it  appeared  no  more  in  the  light 
of  affecting  ease  and  style,  than  does  the  conduct  of 
Elijah,  fleeing  from  the  anger  of  Ahab,  to  be  fed  twice 
a  day  by  unclean  birds. 

I  had  experienced  the  debilitating  effects  of  this 
long  summer,  commenced  in  1820;  I  had  felt  disease 
so  invade  my  frame  as  for  years  to  render  domestic 
aid  essential  to  my  very  existence.  During  this  season 
of  adversity,  far  away  from  the  comforts  and  aid  of 
civilized  man,  far  from  that  medical  skill  which  visits 
the  couch  of  suffering"  humanity  to  alleviate  distress, 
and  to  raise  from  debility,  my  reliance  was  my  hits- 
hand.  The  responsible  office  of  the  physician,  the 
ten< ler  duties  of  the  nurse,  and  the  menial  services 
of  the  kitchen,  have  all  been  his.  But  how  can  an 
individual  give  efficiency  to  public  labors,  when  from 
honr  to  hour,  from  day  to  day,  from  week  to  week, 
and  from  vear  to  year,  his  attention  is  divided  be- 
tween the  cook-room  and  the  nursery.  In  these  help- 
less circumstances  I  have  been  thankful  for  the  im- 
]  erfect  services  of  natives,  even  though  their  entrance 
into  our  family  caused  apprehensions  and  mental  suf- 
ferings, which  have  often  excited  reflections  like  this. 
Crucifixion  is  the  torture  of  days.  These  maternal 
anxieties  which  hourly  prey  upon  the  heart,  and  pro- 
duce so  many  sleepless  nights,  is  the  anguish  of  years. 

But  why  do  I  dwell  on  conflicts,  when  I  am  al- 
lowed to   sing  of  victory.     Our  two   oldest  children 


130  Life  of   Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

opened  their  eyes  when  thick  darkness  was  still  brood- 
ing over  this  polluted  land.  Without  being  left  to 
stumble  on  the  dark  mountains,  they  have  been  borne 
along  the  tide  of  life,  till  at  the  age  of  twelve  and 
thirteen  years,  they  came  to  the  same  fountain  for 
cleansing  as  is  opened  for  the  poor  natives  to  wash 
in.  So  well  established  are  their  Christian  habits  and 
principles,  that  we  have,  of  late,  allowed  them  free 
access  to  all  our  Hawaiian  books,  and  to  listen  to 
preaching,  besides  to  each  a  class  of  little  girls,  whom 
they  every  day  meet  for  instruction  under  school  regu- 
lations. But  the  restriction  of  non-intercourse  among 
the  natives  is  not  removed. 

Dear  Mrs:  Bishop,  who  was  laid  in  her  grave  six 
weeks  before  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcement,  longed 
exceedingly  to  see  and  give  them  a  charge  from  her 
sick  couch.  The  purport  of  it  was  this :  "Do  not  be 
devoted  to  domestic  duties.  Trust  to  natives,  how- 
ever imperfect  their  services,  and  preserve  your  con- 
stitutions." I  needed  no  such  warning,  for  I  had 
learned  the  lesson  by  my  own  sad  experience,  and 
when,  after  years  of  prostration,  I  was  again  permitted 
to  enjoy  comfortable  health,  I  availed  myself  of  the 
aid  of  natives  for  the  accomplishment  of  such  domestic 
services  as  they  were  capable  of  rendering.  I  found 
that  the  duties  of  the  housekeeper,  of  the  mother,  of 
the  teacher  of  our  children,  of  day  schools  and  weekly 
meetings,  among  the  natives,  often  drew  me  down  to 
the  couch.  For  as  one  of  our  physicians  told  me, 
"You  may  as  well  talk  of  perpetual  motion,  as  to  think 
of  performing  as  much  labor  here  as  you  could  have 
done  by  remaining  in  America." 

I  have  spoken  simply  of  our  own  domestic  ar- 
rangement ;  but  all  our  mission  families  are  regulated 
much  on  the  same  plan  ;  and  were  our  patrons  or  our 


1835.  131 

husbands  now  to  say,  '"Look  to  New  England  for  ex- 
amples :  there  ladies  of  intelligence  and  refinement, 
holding  superior  stations  in  life,  often  sustain,  unaided, 
the  labors  of  their  own  families, — go  thou  and  do  like- 
wise."— it  would  be  one  of  the  most  effectual  means 
that  could  be  taken  to  send  the  sisters  of  this  mission, 
either  down  to  their  graves,  or  home  to  America. 

As  to  the  effects  produced  upon  natives  thus  em- 
ployed in  our  families,  they  have  more  intelligence, 
more  of  the  good  things  of  this  life,  more  influence 
among  their  fellows  than  they  could  otherwise  pos- 
sess; and  numbers  of  them,  I  doubt  not,  will  be  added 
to  that  great  company,  which  no  man  can  number, 
redeemed  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  peo- 
ple, and  nation. 

This  letter  far  exceeds  the  limits  I  prescribed  to 
myself  when  taking  the  pen.  But  knowing  that  heavy 
oars  are  plied  on  that  side  of  the  waters  for  the  bene- 
fit of  those  who  are  here  your  servants  for  Christ's 
sake,  I  thought  good  to  spread  before  you  our  situa- 
tion and  principles  of  action. 

Yours  affectionately, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON, 

ARTICLE    LXXIII. 

To  Mrs.  Dr.  Judd. 

Kailua,  December  25,  1835. 

Dear  Mrs.  Judd: 

The  scenes  of  last  General  Meeting  have  caused 
many  pleasant  associations  to  stand  connected  in  my 
mind  with  you  and  the  young  plants  rising  up  beneath 
your  care.  The  intelligence  that  twins  had  been  added 
to  your  family,  awakened  new  interest.     It  touched  a 


132  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

chord  in  my  heart  which  vibrated  with  emotion.  For 
thus  it  was  that  /  commenced  my  being,  thus  it  was 
that  I  was  cradled  in  my  mother's  arms.  Eight  sum- 
mer suns  beheld  us  twin  sisters  closely  walking  hand 
in  hand  the  pathway  of  life.  How  sweet  those  early 
memories !  Then  together  we  descended  to  the  very 
verge  of  the  grave.  There  we  separated.  Lydia's 
character  had  become  perfected  for  another  state  of 
existence,  and  Lucy  was  raised  for  a  then  unthought- 
nf  destinv. 


ARTICLE    LXXIV. 

To  Mrs.    Dr.   Judd. 

Kailua,  November  14,  1836. 

Dear  Mrs.  Judd: 

I  guessed  that  you  understood  what  poor  human 
nature  was,  and  that  you  thought  that  by  this  time  I 
might  be  in  want  of  what  Solomon  says,  is  as  good 
as  a  medicine.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  reception  of 
your  letter,  which  found  us  in  a  temperate  region, 
caused  an  immediate  rise  of  ten  degrees  in  the  elas- 
ticity of  our  spirits.  As  to  picking  up  a  pen  when 
the  governor's  schooner  was  bound  straight  to  Hilo, 
— had  I  done  so  it  would  not  have  been  to  have  writ- 
ten the  name  of  Judd,  for  I  did  not  think  you  would 
have  been  there.  But  on  that  day,  after  attending  to 
my  family  school  and  nursery,  after  acting  as  super- 
intendent to  a  native  school  of  one  hundred  and  eighty, 
making  out  two  notes  on  business,  and  putting  up 
oranges  for  five  stations,  I  was  satisfied  with  paying 
my  respects  to  such  only  as  presented  themselves  be- 


1836.  133 

fore  me  in  person ;  and  this  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
doing  by  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Forbes  and  family. 

This  apology  has  opened  a  loophole  through 
which  you  can  peep  and  obtain  one  glimpse  of  us, 
situated  alone  on  these  shores  of  Hawaii.  We  have 
since  General  Meeting,  had  none  other  than  favorable 
gales,  and  we  are  now  under  full  sail,  going  at  the 
rate  of  ten  knots  an  hour ;  but  I  know  not  how  soon 
we  shall  find  ourselves  in  the  Gulf  Stream. 

Baby  thrives,  and  is  quite  an  important  person- 
age among  us,  being  the  substitute  of  the  Rev.   Mr. 
Bishop  and  family,  who  have  removed  to  Ewa. 
Affectionately  yours, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON, 

ARTICLE    LXXY. 

To   Miss   Elizabeth   Goodale. 

Kailua,  November,  15,  1836. 

My  Dear  Niece: 

Tell  your  dear  mother  that  I  was  better  pleased 
with  the  intelligence  of  her  being  a  member  of  a  Sab- 
bath school  than  of  anything  I  have  heard  respecting 
her  since  leaving  America.  Tell  her,  too,  that  I  learn 
a  Bible  lesson  every  week  to  recite  in  English.  My 
own  children  are  my  classmates.  By  giving  Mr. 
Thurston  the  class-book,  we  contrive  to  form  one 
united  family  circle.  Thus  we  are  engaged  every 
Sabbath  night  at  sunset,  the  usual  time  for  evening- 
family  worship.  When  Saturday  comes  round  I  at- 
tend to  another  Sabbath  school  lesson  in  Hawaiian. 
Instead  of  being  there  a  scholar  to  recite  with  schoL 


134  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

ars,  I  am  a  teacher  to  instruct  teachers — some  thirty 
of  them,   who  are  employed  in  our   Sabbath  school. 

We  have  now  no  associate  at  our  station,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bishop  having-  removed  to  Ewa,  on  Oahu, 
in  consequence  of  Mrs.  Bishop's  impaired  health.  The 
arrangement  will  probably  be  permanent.  We  have 
a  neighbor  on  one  side  of  us,  Mr.  Forbes,  by  water 
distant  sixteen  miles,  and  on  the  other  side,  Mr.  Lyons, 
within  thirty  miles. 

At  the  last  General  Meeting  the  ladies  of  the 
Mission  formed  themselves  into  a  Maternal  Associa- 
tion. Their  meetings  became  frequent  and  very  in- 
teresting. At  the  various  stations  the  ladies  have 
formed  similar  associations  among  the  natives,  reports 
from  which  are  to  be  brought  in  at  every  yearly 
meeting. 

Situated  in  such  solitary  circumstances,  I  find 
much  comfort  and  aid  from  our  two  oldest  children. 
The  older  of  these  is  now  fifteen,  and  their  scholars 
about  their  own  ages,  yet  they  look  up  to  their  young 
teachers  with  as  much  deference  as  they  do  to  me. 
The  future  destiny  of  our  children  I  know  not.  We 
have  never  yet  seen  the  time,  when  we  could  thrust 
them  from  those  guardians  which  are  theirs  by  na- 
ture. We  are  daily  expecting  a  letter  from  Dr.  An- 
derson which  I  hope  will  throw  some  light  on  our 
path.  I  always  hold  it  up  before  the  children  that  in 
three  years,  that  is,  when  the  oldest  is  eighteen,  they 
must  go  to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  I  find  it  neces- 
sary to  do  this  as  a  stimulus  to  effort  beneath  this 
tropic  sun,  where  there  is  so  much  that  is  indolent 
and  uncivilized  to  meet  the  eye.  Nine  children  of  the 
mission  will  probably  be  sent  away  in  a  few  weeks. 
With  the  exception  of  our  own  family,  no  daughter 
in  the  mission  will  be  left  upward  of  seven  years  of 
age. 


1836.  135 

When  we  sailed  for  Honolulu  to  attend  the  last 
General  Meeting,  and  were  not  yet  out  of  sight  of 
our  own  shores,  we  looked  back  and  saw  the  flames 
ascending  to  the  heavens.  We  had  little  doubt  but 
one  of  our  dwelling  houses  was  laid  in  ashes ;  but  in 
two  or  three  weeks  after,  we  learned  that  it  was  our 
church — the  work  of  an  incendiary  not  yet  discovered. 
It  was  said  by  a  white  man  then  on  the  spot,  that 
there  had  never  been  such  a  mourning  among  the  peo- 
ple since  the  death  of  Kamehameha.  It  however, 
only  hastened  the  work  of  starting  a  permanent  stone 
building,  which  is  now  nearly  completed.  The  belfry, 
spire  and  vane,  give  quite  an  American  look  to  our 
village.  Your  affectionate  Aunt, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXXYI. 

The   Epistle   of  the   Thurstons  to  the   Honoluluans. 

April,  1837. 

LUCY  with  Tatina,*  her  husband,  and  all  the  chil- 
dren that  are  with  us,  to  all  that  be  in  Honolulu, 

called  to  be  saints. 

As  we  trust  shortly  to  be  given  you  through  your 
prayers,  even  at  the  approaching  convocation,  we 
thought  good  to  write  unto  you  in  order,  that  withal 
ye  prepare  us  also  a  lodging  place.  And  as  it  was 
made  a  statute  and  an  ordinance  for  Israel,  that  as 
his  part  was,  that  went  down  to  the  battle,  so  should 
his  part  be  that  tarried  by  the  stuff,  they  should  share 
alike :  even  so  we  pray,  that  the  end  of  a  campaign, 
performed  single  handed,  may  introduce  us  to  the  full 

*Tah-tee'-nah.      Thurston    in   the   native  language. 


136  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

communion  and  fellowship  of  those  who  remain  by 
the  stuff,  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  social  privileges, 
to  be  comforted  together  with  you,  with  those  conso- 
lations, with  which  you  also  abound. 

Salute  Rebecca  and  her  household.  They  of  Ha- 
waii salute  you.     Grace  be  with  you  all,  Amen. 

Written  to  the  Honoluluans  from  Kailua,  and  sent 
by  Kuakini,  servant  of  the  church. 


ARTICLE    LXXVII. 

To  Mrs.  Coan,   Hilo. 

Kailua,  September  25,  1837. 

Dear  Mrs.   Coan: 

Dr.  Andrews  has  just  sent  up  a  note,  saying,  that 
an  opportunity  offers  of  sending  to  Hilo  by  the  way 
of  Waimea,  and  as  I  have  a  caution  to  press  upon 
you,  I  immediately  turn  to  my  pen. 

It  is  this.  Take  care  of  your  health.  I  hear  the 
same  story  this  year  that  I  did  the  last,  that  your 
duties  through  the  day  made  you  too  weary  to  rest 
at  night.  That  is  enough  in  itself  for  one  who  has 
been  in  the  post  of  observation  for  seventeen  years, 
to  raise  the  warning  voice.  There  are  emergencies 
when  people  are  called  upon  to  show  their  devotion 
to  the  cause  which  they  have  espoused,  by  adventur- 
ing with  life  in  their  hands.  '  Not  so  in  prosperous 
circumstances,  performing  the  daily  routine  of  com- 
mon duties : — I  do  most  fully  believe  that  it  is  the  will 
of  our  Lord  that  we  take  care  of  flesh  and  blood,  of 
bones  and  sinews,  these  forming  the  grand,  the  only 
instrument  with  which  we  are  to  serve  our  genera- 
tion. If  it  is  an  instrument  with  which  we  are  to 
serve,  then  let  it  be  a  servant.     But  let  us  give  it  such 


1839.  137 

rest  as  will  best  secure  prolonged  and  energetic  action. 
Tell  our  young  missionary  ladies,  that  to  live  a  holy 
life  is  one  thing,  and  to  sap  one's  constitution  in  the 
ardor  of  youthful  feelings  is  quite  another.  I  watch 
over  these  young  plants  with  some  thing  of  maternal 
feelings.  Yours  affectionately, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXXVIII. 

To    Mrs.    Mary    Parkhurst,    Massachusetts. 

Kailua,  February,  1839. 

Dear  Niece: 

Dr.  Andrews  and  wife,  myself  and  children  have 
all  just  returned  from  spending  a  week  at  Kealake- 
kua,  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Forbes,  sixteen  miles  from 
this.  Mr.  Thurston  conducted  us  thither  and  returned. 
I  had  not  before,  since  my  illness,  been  beyond  the 
precincts  of  our  village,  notwithstanding  it  had  been 
so  strongly  recommended.  The  Dr.  was  rising  from 
sickness,  having  twice  had  the  run  of  a  fever.  We 
went  and  returned  in  a  double  canoe.  We  all  spent 
one  clay  and  night  with  Kapiolani,  whose  residence 
was  two  miles  from  Mr.  Forbes,  back  in  the  country. 
I  was  delighted  with  the  air  of  civilized  and  cultivated 
life,  which  pervaded  her  dwelling.  She  had  a  stone 
house,  consisting  of  three  lower,  and  three  upper 
rooms.  Several  of  the  rooms  were  carpeted  with 
very  fine  mats,  and  curtained.  Three  high  post  bed- 
steads were  hung  with  valances  and  musquito  cur- 
tains. Three  Chinese  settees,  handsomely  trimmed, 
were  placed  one  in  each  of  the  lower  rooms.  The 
house  was  furnished  with  a  writing  desk,  tables,  chairs, 


138  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

looking  glasses,  &c.  A  table  was  spread,  covered  with 
a  white  damask  table  cloth.  Tea  was  served  up  with 
a  waiter.  China  cups  and  saucers,  and  silver  tea 
spoons.  Then  she  had  soup  served  out  with  a  silver 
ladle  on  soup  plates ;  and  boiled  fowls,  baked  pig, 
with  various  kinds  of  vegetables,  as  squash,  potatoes, 
kalo,  breadfruit,  and  radishes,,  on  dining  plates.  Then 
there  was  the  domestic  altar,  the  Holy  Book,  the  sacred 
hymns  and  reverential  prayer.  Thus  were  we  enter- 
tained at  the  house  of  a  Sandunch  Islander. 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXXIX. 

To   the    General    Meeting   of    the    Sandwich    Island    Mission. 

Kailua.  April  6,  1839. 

Brethren: 

It  was  when  maternal  cares  first  pressed  upon 
my  heart,  that  I  was  made  sensible  of  the  dangers  of 
that  sea  on  which  I  had  embarked.  The  cable  that 
confined  my  bark  was  cut,  and  no  idea  existed  in 
my  mind  of  again  reaching  my  native  land.  Thus 
launched,  sustaining  such  responsibilities,  I  beheld  my 
situation  upon  the  very  verge  of  the  outer  circles  of 
a  maelstrom.  But  firmly  belieying  that  God  helps 
those  who  help  themselves,  I  learned,  as  it  were,  while 
with  one  hand  I  wrought,  with  the  other  to  stem  the 
tide.  Thus  was  I  sustained  day  by  day,  during  the 
first  fourteen  years  of  missionary  life,  without  any 
star  of  future  promise  to  guide  me  to  the  port  of 
safety. 

Then  new  and  appalling  intelligence  from  abroad 
nerved  Mr.  Thurston  to  say  to  me :    "You  must  take 


1839.  139 

our  children  and  go  home  with  them."  I  answered : 
"It  is  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  our  General  Meeting' 
that  twenty  years  is  as  long  a  service  in  this  climate  as 
can  be  expected  of  any  one  missionary.  In  our  situa- 
tion, with  our  regulations,  I  am  willing  to  sustain 
maternal  responsibilities  in  this  land  so  long,  but  no 
longer.  Let  us  perform  our  measure  of  service  within 
that  period,  and  then  all  go  home  together."  For 
nearly  five  years  this  is  as  the  subject  has  existed  in 
our  minds.  Mr.  Thurston  has  harped  upon  the  string 
of  sending  home  mother  and  children,  while  I  have 
been  buoyed  up  with  the  hope  that  he  would  accom- 
pany us. 

But  the  nineteenth  year  of  missionary  life  seemed 
to  call  upon  me  to  look  at  my  prospects  and  responsi- 
bilities, and  prepare  for  changes.  But  what  was  duty? 
Abram,  in  leaving  his  country,  and  offering  up  his 
son  Isaac,  had  a  plain  command  by  which  to  walk. 
But  from  Genesis  to  Revelation  I  found  no  one  to 
meet  my  case.  On  first  opening  the  Bible,  we  read 
that  a  man  shall  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  but 
we  look  in  vain  to  the  only  sure  guide  of  faith  and 
practice,  to  find,  either  by  precept  or  example,  that 
he  is  forever  to  leave  his  own  offspring.  This  senti- 
ment of  modern  clays  seems  to  be  introduced  to  meet 
the  wants  of  our  world,  probably  destined  to  flourish 
only  while  the  science  of  Missions  is  in  its  infancy. 

When  Moses  became  a  public  character  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  we  find  that  his  wife  was  left  behind 
in  the  land  of  Midian  with  his  children. 

Hannah,  the  only  example  of  the  kind  in  Holy 
Writ,  either  in  the  old  Testament  or  new,  left  her 
son  Samuel  at  the  tabernacle  under  the  care  of  the 
High  Priest,  and  returned  fifteen  miles  to  her  own 
home.     The  three  great  Jewish  feasts,  required  hus- 


140  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

band  to  visit  the  spot  three  times  a  year.  Moreover 
his  mother  made  him  a  little  coat  and  brought  it  to 
him  from  year  to  year,  when  she  came  up  with  lier 
husband  to  offer  the  yearly  sacrifice,  where,  with  her 
own  eyes  she  could  behold  her  own  son  ministering" 
before  the  Lord,  girded  with  a  linen  ephod. 

The  command,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,"  is  drawn  from 
the  same  source  as  the  prediction,  "Many  shall  run 
to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  greatly  increased." 

In  turning  to  view  the  human  family  in  the  19th 
century,  among  the  heterogeneous  mass  which  went 
to  people  our  earth,  I  behold  three  distinct  classes  of 
children,  laboring  under  a  system  of  measures  which 
tend  to  deprive  them  of  both  their  natural  guardians. 
I  allude  to  the  traffic  of  African  blood,  the  burning 
of  Hindoo  widows,  and  the  exile  of  missionaries  from 
their  country  for  life.  To  be  myself  drawn  into  such 
circumstances,  to  be  instrumental  in  giving  birth  to 
immortal  natures,  and  then  myself  exercise  an  agency 
to  thrust  them  from  me,  perhaps  to  be_ crushed,  per- 
haps from  their  unprotected  state  to  be  led  into  tempt- 
ations and  sin,  was  more  trying  to  my  feelings,  than 
sustaining  maternal  duties  in  the  very  heart  of  a 
heathen  land,  when  gross  darkness  was  upon  the  peo- 
ple,— a  darkness  that  could  be  felt. 

When  at  the  inexperienced  age  of  twenty-four, 
I  was  called  to  decide  upon  the  important  question 
of  quitting  my  native  country  for  a  heathen  land,  my 
father  and  all  my  friends  referred  the  matter  entirely 
to  myself.  Without  advice,  without  influence,  I  alone 
sustained  the  responsibility. 

At  the  more  experienced  age  of  forty-three,  an- 
other question  of  equal  moment  came  up  before  me. 


1839.  141 

But  independence  of  action  was  no  longer  mine.  A 
long  array  of  "powers  that  be,"  rose  up  before  me. 
Husband,  associates,  the  Prudential  Committee,  the 
American  Board,  and  the  Christian  Public.  In  such 
circumstances,  not  communicating  my  trials  to  mortal 
ear,  not  aware  of  my  danger,  and  not  taking  heed 
to  my  steps,  I  found  myself  in  the  Slough  of  Despond. 
By  efforts  too  much  for  human  nature,  I  extricated 
myself,  and  reached  the  side  opposite  my  own  house. 
It  was  on  the  27th  of  August,  1838,  that  I  made  the 
surrender  of  laying  my  children  on  the  altar.  Then  I 
resolved  to  take  my  proper  place,  to  remember  that 
I  was  a  daughter  of  Eve,  a  wife  of  a  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ,  of  a  missionary  to  the  heathen.  I  resolved  to 
be  led  and  guided  like  a  little  child,  by  those  who 
managed  the  affairs  of  Christ's  kingdom,  even  though 
I  alone  was  called  to  wander  to  a  far  off  land,  there 
to  be  deprived  of  those  in  whom  my  strength  lieth, 
and  to  return  with  the  weakness  of  a  Samson  shorn 
of  his  locks. 

The  result  was  such  as  might  be  expected.  Like 
poor  Christian,  I  lost  my  burden.  But  what  excited 
my  astonishment  was,  I  could  no  longer  say  /  am 
weary.  The  distress  of  my  mind,  and  the  pains  of 
my  body  had  taken  flight  together.  For  three  days 
there  was  an  unnatural  degree  of  rest,  repose  and 
languor,  when  I  experienced  an  attack  of  paralysis 
on  the  right  side,  so  very  slight,  at  first,  as  not  to  in- 
terrupt my  usual  routine  of  duties.  It  continued  to 
increase  daily,  and  precisely  one  fortnight  from  the 
night  that  I  formed  my  purpose  of  action,  I  was  ex- 
tended on  my  bed,  encircled  by  friends,  commending, 
for  the  first  time,  my  children  in  their  coming  orphan- 
age to  the  guardianship  of  Mrs.  Andrews.  During 
the  following  week  my  life  was  despaired  of  from  one 
day  to  another,  and  at  periods,  from  one  hour  to  an- 


142  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

other.  My  head  was  so  disordered  that  eight  weeks 
passed  away  before  I  was  once  removed  from  that 
sick  bed  on  which  I  had  been  laid;  during  which  time 
T  was  fed  with  a  tea-spoon  like  an  infant. 

But  although  cast  down  I  was  not  destroyed.  He 
who  knoweth  our  frame,  and  remembereth  that  we 
are  but  dust,  said  to  the  destroying  angel,  "It  is 
enough."  That  I  live,  again  to  act  my  part  in  the 
theatre  of  life,  possessing  the  use  of  my  limbs  and 
mental  faculties,  is  the  Lord's  doings  and  marvelous 
in  our  eyes.  But  I  am  not  in  the  possession  of  equal 
powers,  either  of  body  or  mind  as  formerly.  Besides 
a  sense  of  weight  on  my  right  side  from  head  to  foot 
hourly  reminds  me  of  what  I  have  been,  of  what  I 
may  again  be.  But  although  deep  has  called  unto  deep, 
and  all  God's  waves  and  billows  have  rolled  over  me, 
it  has  only  fixed  the  steadfast  purpose  of  my  soul,  to 
let  others  lead,  and  while  I  follow,  accepting  of  trials 
and  sacrifices  as  my  portion,  not  counting  even  my 
life  dear  unto  myself. 

And  now,  after  a  campaign  of  twenty  years,  it 
is  our  desire  to  have  the  privilege  of  providing  for 
our  own  house  also.  By  the  Prudential  Committee 
we  are  referred  for  direction  to  this  Body.  Now  our 
waiting  eyes  are  turned  to  you.  Were  I  allowed  to 
speak  my  feelings,  my  petition  and  my  request  is : 
If  it  please  this  Mission,  and  we  have  found  favor 
in  their  sight,  and  if  the  thing  seem  right  in  their 
eyes,  that  they  permit  me  to  conduct  my  children 
across  the  ocean  to  the  land  which  is  theirs  by  birth- 
right ;  to  a  land  of  industry,  of  civilization,  and  of 
Christian  institutions.  If  it  is  made  a  question  whether 
the  husband  and  the  father  accompany  us  or  not,  you 
and  he,  will,  of  course,  decide  according  as  the  finger 
of  Divine  Providence  seems  to  your  own  minds  to 
direct.  LUCY  G.  THURSTON 


KAILUA  CHUECH 

Built  in  1836,  and  still  in  constant  use.  Before  it 
is  the  Memorial  Arch  erected  in  1900  to  the  Kailua 
Pilgrims    of    1820. 


ARTICLE    LXXX. 

To   Mrs.   P.   P.   Andrews,    Hilo. 

Kailua,  July  25,  1839. 

Dear  Mrs.  Andrews: 

Last  night,  as  the  sun  was  sinking  beneath  the 
horizon,  we  set  foot  on  the  shores  of  Kailua,  on  our 
return  from  the  General  Meeting  at  Honolulu.  But 
it  was  not  necessary  to  come  to  these  scenes  to  be  re- 
minded often  and  tenderly  of  you. 

Short  as  has  been  the  time  since  I  saw  you,  I 
have  seen  some  of  the  varieties  of  human  life.  Yes- 
terday, in  solitary  circumstances  on  the  schooner,  we 
were  accommodated  upon  the  naked  deck,  eating  from 
the  poi  dish  with  our  fingers.  But  the  other  day, 
while  at  Kaneohe,  we  were  seated  at  the  table  with 
twenty,  where  luxury  and  etiquette  seemed  to  preside. 
At  one  time  I  had  the  apprehension  of  fleeting  for  life 
before  the  face  of  enemies.*     Yet  another,  watching, 

*An  armed  French  ship  was  anchored  within  cannon  shot  dis- 
tance of  the  town  of  Honolulu.  Within  view  and  reach  of  those  shot- 
ted guns,  resided  the  American  Missionaries.  In  case  of  hostilities, 
other  foreigners  would  find  an  asylum  and  protection  on  hoard  the 
French  ship.  But  the  missionaries  were  pointed  out  as  the  special  mark 
for  devastation,  calamities,  insults,  and  horrors,  threatened  hy  cannon- 
ading, and  hy  landing  a  lawless  crew  from  a  French  Man  of  War.  If 
a  man  of  their  vessel  was  injured  it  was  to  he  a  war  of  extermination, 
neither  man,  woman  nor  child  were  to  he  saved.  The  hour  was  set 
when  they  were  to  commence  hostilities,  unless  the  king  yielded  to  all 
requirements  It  was  a  peremptory  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the 
sovereign's  prerogatives,  the  session  of  lands,  and  a  deposit  of  $20,000 
as  security  for  the  future  obsequiousness  and  obedience  of  his  Hawai- 
ian Majesty  Kamehameha  Third  to  the  king  of  the  French. —  [Flag  Ship 
Jarves   History,    and   Bingham's   History.] 

There  was  a  time  in  this  extremity,  when  the  friends  of  the  king 
in  his  presence,  laid  the  matter  before  the  King  of  Kings.  The  prayer 
was   ended.      But   the   youthful  ruler   lingered   kneeling. 

143 
11 


144  Life   of  Lucy    G.    Thurston. 

m 

day  and  night  over  the  sick  couch  of  my  elder  boy, 
while  no  tongue  but  little  Henry's  gave  utterance  to 
the  deep  feelings  of  the  heart — "Is  Asa  a-going  to 
die?"  Then  we  again  found  ourselves  buffeting  the 
rude  surges  of  the  ocean,  in  the  same  schooner  which 
touched  upon  the  rocks  on  the  way  down,  and  in  which 
I  extinguished  fire  in  coming  up,  having  no  append- 
age of  boat  or  canoe  on  board  for  any  emergency. 
Then  even  the  voyage  had  variety.  The  first  part 
was  exceedingly  rough,  the  little  children  asking  with 
tears,  "Will  the  vessel  tip  over,"  However,  our  native 
mariners  had  no  such  fears,  and  even  if  it  did,  why 
they  knew  how  to  right  it — by  cutting  away  the  masts. 
The  last  part  of  the  voyage  was  as  calm  as  a  sum- 
mer's day,  and  served  to  remind  me  of  the  end  of 
the  voyage  of  life,  after  the  conflicts  and  trials  of  the 
way.  Affectionately, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXXXI. 

To   Mrs.   Coan,   Hilo. 

Kailua,  January  9,  1840. 

Dear  Sister  Coan: 

I  rejoice  once  more  in  being  able  to  address  you. 
This  I  have  ever  intended  to  do  before  leaving  the 
Islands,  even  if  I  could  not  take  my  pen  before  being 
on  the  way  for  Oahu.  But  since  our  excursion  round 
the  Island,  my  cares  have  been  like  wave  behind  wave, 
requiring  head,  and  heart,  and  hands  to  buffet  them. 
Our  stay  here  has  been  unexpectedly  prolonged.  But 
I  thank  Him  without  whose  cognizance  not  a  sparrow 
falleth  to  the  ground,  that  we  are  still  dwelling  in  the 
quietude   of  our   own   home.     To  make  preparations 


1840.  145 

for  a  voyage  of  twenty-four  weeks,  for  a  family  of 
seven  members,  under  the  equator  and  around  Cape 
Horn,  in  sickness  and  health,  in  touching  perhaps  at 
foreign  ports,  and  in  landing  on  our  native  shores,  is 
not  all.  In  ploughing  the  ocean's  deceitful  waves,  I 
wish  to  feel  that  whatever  betide,  all  will  be  well  with 
me  and  mine.  Jesus,  too,  is  passing  in  our  midst. 
What  time  so  opportune  to  ask  Him  to  lay  his  hands 
upon  all  my  children,  and  to  bless  them. 

You  were  kind  to  speak  a  word  in  behalf  of  a 
child  of  unformed  character,  about  to  be  sundered 
forever  from  both  natural  guardians.  Under  what 
influence  is  the  scale  to  turn,  which  will  fix  that  child's 
destiny  in  both  worlds.  Without  calculating  on  proba- 
bilities, I  am  called  to  lay  my  children  all  as  blanks 
into  my  heavenly  Father's  hands,  to  let  him  write 
upon  them  as  seemeth  good  in  his  sight,  and  to  hold 
myself  in  readiness,  either  to  be  vised, — or  dashed  as 
a  potter's  vessel.  O,  for  that  humility,  for  that  sub- 
mission, for  that  gratitude  which  becomes  a  depend- 
ent being. 

I  beg  you  to  tender  my  parting  salutations  of  love 
to  each  of  your  kind  associates.  Peace,  that  peace 
which  the  world  neither  gives  nor  takes  away,  be 
with  them  and  you.  Brethren  and  sisters,  pray  for  us. 
Farewell.  Affectionatelv  yours, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 

ARTICLE    LXXXII. 

To  Mr.  Armstrong, '  Honolulu. 

Dear  Brother: 

Since  you  have  the  kindness  to  allow  me  to  spread 
before  you  my  feelings,  permit  me  to  state : 

That  the  danger  of  the  return  of  my  former  dis- 


146  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

ease,  the  paralysis,  may  be  rationally  apprehended 
during  my  voyage  to  the  United  States. 

That  in  case  of  another  attack,  no  other  prospect 
would  seem  to  be  before  me,  than  either  a  speedy  dis- 
solution, or  being  left  to  drag  out  existence,  a  wreck 
both  in  body  and  mind. 

That  the  liability  of  its  occurrence  will  depend 
much  upon  the  quiet  state  of  my  own  mind. 

That  there  are  two  subjects  which  lie  with  op- 
pressive weight  upon  my  feelings,  my  children  who 
go  with  me,  and  my  husband  who  is  left  behind. 

That  the  sorrow  and  anxiety  which  I  shall  feel 
in  view  of  leaving  Mr.  Thurston  in  such  desolate  cir- 
cumstances, will  be  greatly  augmented  or  lessened, 
in  the  consideration  of  whom  he  has  for  associates. 
His  retiring  habits,  his  dereliction  of  self,  and  a  slight 
cough  from  which  he  has  not  been  free  for  the  past 
nine  months,  all  lead  me  to  wish  to  commend  him  to 
the  watchful  care  and  sympathy  of  known  and  tried 
friends. 

Therefore,  my  petition  and  my  request  is,  if  I 
have  found  favor,  and  the  thing  seem  right,  let  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Andrews  remain  at  Kailua. 

My  prayer  is  now  before  you.  Nothing  remains 
for  me,  but  to  lay  my  hand  upon  my  mouth,  and  pre- 
pare myself  to  say,  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the 
deep  surge  which  is  now  passing  over  our  family, 
Amen  and  Amen. 

Yours  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Testis 
Christ.  LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    LXXXIII. 

Our   Children. 

THE  natives  knew  I  had  a  systematic  school  for 
them  in  the  sitting  room  in  the  house,  situated  in 
the  retired  yard,  and  they  learned  to  obtain  permis- 
sion quietly  to  drop  in  and  silently  witness  the  novel 
scene.  They  could  at  once  behold  order  and  applica- 
tion, and  though  ignorant  of  the  English  language, 
they  shrewdly  judged  that  our  children  were  prodi- 
gies of  obedience  compared  with  their  own  degenerate 
offspring.  With  them,  could  be  seen  at  the  end  of 
their  dwelling  house  a  little  urchin  with  a  stone  in 
his  hand  at  open  definance  against  his  father,  crying- 
out  :  "You  don't  need  to  dodge,  father ;  I  am  not 
agoing  to  throw  yet." 

While  the  natives  have  been  observing  my  school, 
I  have  often  and  often  seen  the  tears  trickle  down 
their  cheeks.  They  were  grieving  that  they  had  de- 
stroyed their  own  children  on  the  threshold  of  life, 
and  parental  desires  were  awakened  of  having  them- 
selves sons  and  daughters  thus  molded. 

Whenever  I  walked  abroad,  or  entered  the  church, 
every  eye  was  turned  upon  them,  bespeaking  looks  of 
astonishment  and  admiration.  So  that  notwithstand- 
ing they  had  no  intercourse  with  the  people,  they  were 
emphatically  public  examples  in  a  nation  that  had 
never  before  seen  the  effects  of  a  Christian  and  civil- 
ized education. 

When  our  eldest  daughters  were  twelve  and  four- 
teen years  of  age,  their  habits  were  so  formed,  and 
their  principles  so  established,  that  we  gave  them  per- 
mission to  learn  the  native  language  from  pure  sources. 

147 


148  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

They  were  instructed  in  it  by  their  parents,  allowed 
access  to  Hawaiian  books,  attended  on  their  father's 
ministry,  became  teachers  in  the  Sabbath  school,  also 
in  the  day  school,  and  each  had  a  chamber  in  which 
she  gathered  her  own  Sabbath  school  class  around 
her  for  religious  exercises.  They  were  allowed  to 
come  in  contact  with  natives  as  teachers,  under  school 
regulations,  but  not  as  associates.  They  were  very 
much  revered,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over 
the  native  mind.  Thus  it  was,  that  they  cheerfully 
and  devotedly  labored  for  five  years  before  they  left 
the  Islands. 

We  stood  alone  in  thus  making  the  experiment 
of  retaining  children  on  heathen  ground.  At  this 
time,  when  the  mission  was  in  its  twentieth  year,  more 
than  forty  missionaries'  children  have  been  conveyed 
away  by  parents,  that  have  retired  from  this  field  of 
labor.  Eighteen  have  been  scattered  about  in  the 
fatherland  without  parents. 


PART  SECOND 


1841-1869.     DEATH  OF  TWO  CHILDREN  AND  TWO  GRAND- 
CHILDREN.     LAST  DAYS  OF  FATHER  THURSTON. 


1841. 

ARTICLE    I. 


Departure   from   the    Sandwich    Islands.      Arrival   in   New   York.      Sick- 
ness   of   Family.      Death    of   Daughter. 

FEBRUARY  20,  1841.— Accompanied  by  four  chil- 
dren, I  sailed  from  the  Islands  on  the  3d  of  last 
August,  passed  a  fortnight  at  the  Society  Islands  on 
our  way,  and  arrived  at  New  York  six  months  from 
the  time  of  our  embarkation.  At  the  Sandwich  Islands 
I  parted  from  him  who  has  been  my  stay  and  staff 
during  my  pilgrimage  from  my  father's  house.  He 
staid  to  feed  the  flock  over  whom  he  had  been  made 
overseer.  I  left  to  make  provision  for  the  education 
of  our  children.  In  crossing  the  ocean,  and  in  my 
reception  in  this  country,  I  have  cause  for  the  most 
unbounded  gratitude  to  Him  who  has  caused  my  path- 
way to  be  strewn  with  comforts. 

We  have  spent  two  weeks  in  the  benevolent  family 
of  Mr.  Benson,  and  are  now  entertained  in  the  family 
of  Mr.  Cummings,  an  editor  of  the  New  York  Ob- 
server. I  intended  to  leave  next  week  for  Boston 
and  Marlboro,  but  my  plans  are  frustrated  by  sick- 
ness. Lucy  is  confined  to  her  bed  with  inflammation 
of  the  lungs,  and  is  an  object  of  care  and  solicitude. 
We  have  every  attention  and  care  which  our  situa- 
tion  demands.     We  are  afflicted  but  not  cast   down. 

149 


150  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

While  God  chastens  with  one  hand,  He  supports  with 
the  other. 

February  25. — In  one  week  from  the  time  Lucy 
felt  the  chill  of  fever,  she  felt  the  chill  of  death.  Day 
before  yesterday  I  traveled  with  her  down  to  the  dark 
valley, — no,  not  dark — all  was  light.  Many  precious 
words  fell  from  her  lips,  and  her  feelings  were  char- 
acterized by  sweet  submission  to  the  Divine  will,  and 
an  unshaken  reliance  on  the  Savior.  For  many  hours 
I  reclined  by  her  side  upon  her  dying  bed,  till  all  was 
hushed  and  calm  in  death.  Now  I  can  say  more  than 
I  ever  could  before.  Four  children  on  earth  and  one 
in  heaven !  Mr.  Ely,  an  elder  in  Dr.  Spring's  church, 
kindly  permitted  the  remains  of  our  loved  one  to  be 
laid  in  his  own  family  vault. 

On  Monday,  Lucy  was  pronounced  out  of  dan- 
ger, and  I  was  strengthened  with  the  hope  of  her 
living,  until  Wednesday  morning,  when  it  was  an- 
nounced that  she  must  die.  It  was  a  very  great  shock 
to  me,  both  in  body  and  mind.  All  strength  left  me, 
and  I  felt  like  Belshazzar  when  his  knees  smote  to- 
gether. I  retired  and  was  alone  with  God.  A  simple 
thought  passed  through  my  mind.  "I  will  try  to  bear 
whatever  is  laid  upon  me."  The  change  in  my  feel- 
ings was  as  if  I  had  received  the  touch  of  an  angel. 
I  was  strong  in  body,  strong  in  mind,  equal  to  meet 
the  emergency.  I  returned  to  my  friends  with  com- 
posure and  fortitude,  which  never  for  a  moment  for- 
sook me  in  all  the  varied  trying  scenes  through  which 
I  was  called  to  pass.  I  was  sustained,  I  was  com- 
forted. 

March  9. — Since  Lucy's  funeral  all  the  children 
have  been  prostrate.  The  remedies  employed  have 
been  bleeding,  cupping,  leeching,  blistering,  purging, 
etc.     One  child  has  been  so  low  with  a  complication 


1842.  151 

of  diseases,   that  every   hope  of  life  seemed  cut  off. 
Now,  all  are  gaining  health  and  activity. 

God  has  in  a  wonderful  manner  raised  up  friends. 
Mr.  Cummings,  wife  and  sister,  have  been  most  solicit- 
ous to  promote  our  comfort  and  happiness.  Indeed, 
the  manner  in  which  they,  strangers,  sought  us  out, 
and  conducted  us  to  their  home,  seems  to  me  a  dis- 
tinguished Providence. 


ARTICLE    II. 

Advice   to   a   Daughter  at  Mt.    Holyoke   Female   Seminary,    written   when 
about  to  return  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

New  York,  March  1,  1842. 

My  Dear  Daughter  Persis: 

In  pursuing  your  education,  next  to  taking  care 
of  your  heart,  take  care  of  your  constitution.  On  this 
subject  I  feel  great  anxiety.  The  better  scholar  you 
are  the  greater  will  be  the  danger  of  your  taxing  your 
powers  too  heavily.  If  your  health  allows,  secure  to 
yourself  a  thorough  course  without  being  diverted 
from  your  object.  Pursue  your  studies  without  anx- 
iety as  respects  pecuniary  means.  You  know  that,  as 
long  as  your  mother  inhabits  the  same  globe  with 
you,  in  order  to  have  this  object  accomplished,  she 
will  share  with  you  the  last  dollar  at  her  command. 
Ever  keep  me  informed  of  your  situation,  feelings, 
prospects,  progress,  etc.  After  spending  three  or  four 
years  at  the  Seminary,  a  year  devoted  to  teaching 
would  be  very  improving  to  you. 

I  cannot  now  advise  you  respecting  your  future 
course  in  life.  You  know  my  general  views.  Throw 
yourself    unreservedly    upon    the    guidance    of    your 


152  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

Heavenly  Father,  and  watch  the  developments  of  his 
providence.  In  that  far-off  land  of  your  childhood 
and  youth,  you  have  still  a  father's  home  and  parents 
ever  ready  to  welcome  your  return. 

After  granting  you  that  training  and  those  privi- 
leges which  will  fit  you  for  any  desirable  situation,  in 
any  part  of  the  world,  my  work  respecting  you  will 
he  done,  and  I  shall  leave  you  free  as  air  to  choose 
your  pathway  in  life.  I  know  you  will  wish  to  serve 
your  generation,  to  serve  your  Savior. 

I  will  not  disguise  it, — life  is  replete  with  anx- 
ieties, perplexities,  cares,  toils,  sufferings,  and  sor- 
rows. Well,  let  them  come.  It  is  a  state  of  proba- 
tion and  of  discipline,  and  all  things  are  so  arranged 
by  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence,  that  even  we 
may  become  in  a  high  degree  possessors  of  the  rich 
stores  of  quiet  self-denial,  of  holy  fortitude,  of  cheer- 
ful resignation,  and  of  heaven-born  benevolence.  We 
will  then  travel  on  in  the  vale  of  mortality,  in  the 
depths  of  nothingness,  if  such  be  the  will  of  our  Lord, 
until,  from  exalted  heights,  we  hear  a  seraphic  voice 
saying:    "Come  home  to  your  rest." 

What  your  father  said  to  me,  let  me  repeat  to 
you,  "Never  let  one  murmuring  thought  arise  in  your 
mind  as  though  your  lot  were  a  hard  one."  Thank 
God  that  he  gave  you  birth  in  this  19th  century  of 
our  Christian  era,  that  you  were  early  saved  from 
unholy  influences,  and  instructed  in  the  principles  of 
our  holy  religion,  that  you  and  your  parents  have  a 
name  among  God's  people,  thank  him  that  your  sister 
is  now  before  the  throne,  that  yourself  and  brother 
are  permitted  to  enjoy  the  rich  literary  and  religious 
privileges  of  our  American  institutions ; — that  the 
young  members  of  your  family  are  allowed  the  pros- 
pect of  still  enjoying  privileges,  and  giving  life  and 
interest    to    the    parental   abode.      O   thank    Him    for 


1842.  153 

those  light  afflictions,  which  are  but  for  a  moment, 
and  which  may  work  out  for  you  a  far  more  exceed- 
ing and  eternal  weight  of  glory.     *     *     *     * 

My  own  daughter,  endeared  to  me  by  every  con- 
sideration that  can  affect  a  mother's  heart,  in  now 
bidding  you  farewell,  my  mind  reverts  to  the  hour 
when  you  were  first  laid  in  my  bosom,  when  your 
father  kneeled  by  the  bedside,  and  with  many  tears 
consecrated  you  to  the  Savior.  Since  that  memorable 
day,  twenty  years  have  run  their  round,  always  find- 
ing mother  and  daughter  side  by  side.  And  can  I 
give  up  my  daughter,  my  first  born,  my  might,  and 
the  beginning  of  my  strength?  None  but  He  who 
knoweth  the  unutterable  feelings  of  tenderness  and 
love  which  I  have  felt  for  my  child,  knows  the  cor- 
responding agony  which  the  prospect  of  a  separation 
has  produced. 

And  yet,  when  I  three  years  ago  lay  upon  an 
isthmus  between  time  and  eternity,  balancing  between 
two  worlds, — redemption,  the  great  work  of  the  soul's 
redemption,  was  opened  to  my  mind  with  amazing 
vividness.  Then  I  thought  of  the  manner  in  which 
Mary  of  old  expressed  her  love  to  the  Savior  with  a* 
box  of  costly  ointment.  I  had  an  offering  still  more 
precious,  such  as  would  honor  the  deepest  feelings  of 
a  mother's  devotion.  I  could  rejoice  to  express  my 
love  and  gratitude  to  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  by 
laying  upon  the  altar  in  any  manner  most  acceptable 
to  Him,  my  two  youthful  daughters, — my  most  pre- 
cious treasures. 

Our  own  Lucy  has  since  been  called  for  in  an 
unexpected  way.  But  I  know  to  whom  I  have  con- 
secrated her,  and  have  found  it  one  of  the  sweetest 
acts  of  my  life  to  give  her  up  to  the  gracious  hands 
of  Him,   from  whom  I   received  her  seventeen  years 


154  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

before.  May  a  sanctifying  influence  rest  upon  her 
memory,  and  life-giving  breezes  waft  over  her  tomb. 
The  revolution  of  one  year  has  again  brought  us 
to  the  spot  where  Lucy  took  her  upward  flight, — ■ 
where  two  other  children  and  my  own  country  are 
about  to  recede  from  my  view.  While  others  are 
giving  25,  50  and  100  per  cent,  in  addition  to  what 
they  have  before  done,  mine  are  offerings  not  to  be 
estimated  by  dollars  and  cents.  God  loyeth  a  cheer- 
ful giver.  I  thank  my  Savior  that  he  first  gave  you 
to  me,  affording  me  the  opportunity  of  giving  you 
back  to  him.  I  give  you  to  him  to  live,  and  toil,  and 
suffer  on  earth,  or  to  go  and  behold  his  glory  in 
heaven.  I  give  you  to  him  who  has  all  resources  at 
his  control,  and  whose  wisdom  and  benevolence  are 
infinite.  But  if  he  loves  you  with  a  wise  love,  and  sees 
that  you  need  purifying  in  order  to  reflect  his  own 
image,  he  will  inflict  discipline.  He  will  cause  thorns 
to  spring  up  in  your  pathway.  But  do  not  stop  to 
weep  over  the  trials  of  this  life.  It  is  yours  to  accept 
them  in  such  a  way  as  will  cause  them  to  become  your 
richest  blessings.  Lay  then  one  hand  upon  your 
mouth,  the  other  upon  the  head  of  the  sin-offering  of 
our  world,  and,  with  humility,  with  holy  love  and  joy 
and  activity,  pass  through  this  wilderness  world  to 
your  Father's  home  on  high.  There,  beyond  the  con- 
flicts of  sin,  I  shall  again  behold  what  I  am  here  called 
to  resign. 

"O,    gracious   hour,    O,    blest    abode, 
We   shall  be   near   and   like   our   God ; 
And  flesh  and  sense  no  more  control 
The    rising    pleasures    of    the    soul." 

My  own  daughter,  child  of  my  heart,  adieu. 


ARTICLE    III. 

To    Absent    Children    in    America.      Return    Home. 

Kailua,  November  30,  1842. 

My  Dear  Son  and  Daughter: 

We  reached  Kailua  October  24th,  in  safety,  where 
we  found  your  father  alive — well — in  prosperity — and 
in  the  possesion  of  his  accustomed  cheerfulness.  He 
was  alone  at  the  station,  and  had  been  so  for  three 
months.  During  these  two  years  of  solitude  and  trial, 
he  has  found  solace  in  his  labors.  When  we  left  him. 
his  church  consisted  of  six  hundred  members.  When 
I  returned,  of  eighteen  hundred. 

He  is  much  gratified  with  the  situations  and  pros- 
pects of  both  his  children  in  America.  Now  act  well 
your  part,  and  thus  strengthen  the  hearts  of  your  par- 
ents, and  of  your  numerous  friends  here,  who  inquire 
after  you  with  great  interest. 

For  two  days  and  nights  after  my  return  to  Kai- 
lua, I  neither  slept  nor  wept.  I  was  raised  above  the 
conflicts  of  mortality.  My  being  seemed  etherial.  I 
had  reached  the  port  of  peace.  I  had  reached  my 
husband  and  my  home.  Natives  crowd  to  see  me  bv 
the  hundred.  They  must  all  shake  hands.  My  quiet 
school  room  is  now  the  public  room  for  natives.  We 
all  sleep  up  stairs.  When  your  father's  study  is  com- 
pleted, and  things  are  adjusted,  I  will  tell  you  how 
we  are  situated. 

This  letter  must  go  to-night,  and  I  must  stop, 
though  I  have  sheets  of  intelligence  to  communicate. 
T  pen  this  on  my  knees  by  my  bedside,  a  position 
favorable  to   dispatch.      So  you  must  not   wonder  if 

kc5 


156  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

it  does  not  look  like  me.  Good  night.  The  same 
Eye  that  now  sees  me,  sees  you,  which  affords  conso- 
lation to  the  heart  of  your  ever  affectionate  and  sym- 
pathizing mother. 

ARTICLE    IV. 

To   a   Missionary   Sister. 

Kailua,  November,  1842. 

IS  it  so  that  I  am  again  at  home,  or  am  I  dreaming? 
Letters  from  yourself  and  others,  a  visit  from 
friends,  the  shaking  of  hands  with  hundreds  of  na- 
tives, my  own  home  and  husband,  would  seem,  evi- 
dence enough  to  convince  me  of  the  reality — and  yet 
I  cannot  realize  it.  Is  it  so  that  I  am  no  longer  upon 
the  lap  of  the  world,  either  meeting  friends  from 
whom  I  have  been  separated  twenty  years,  or  taking 
final  leave  of  them,  or  experiencing  first  the  unpleas- 
antness of  meeting  strangers,  and  the  pain  of  sepa- 
rating from  them  as  friends?  And  the  rattling  and 
jolting,  the  puffing  and  screeching,  the  dashing  and 
wetting,  the  whistling  and  howling,  the  running  and 
shouting,  the  rocking  and  creaking,  and  groaning  of 
stage,  car,  steamboat  and  ship,  of  winds,  waves,  and 
mariners,  are  they  exchanged  for  the  purest  pleasures 
that  have  survived  the  fall,  the  peace  and  tranquility 
of  domestic  life? 

Here  I  sit  in  my  corner  of  the  room,  in  my  rock- 
ing-chair, at  my  writing  table,  as  I  used  to  sit.  The 
three  other  corners  are  vacant.  But  they  speak  silent 
volumes  to  me  of  those  who  once  filled  those  seats, 
and  sat  at  those  tables.  Yet  in  viewing  these  vacan- 
cies, no  feeling  of  desolation  or  sorrow  has  given  me 
shade  of  sadness.  I  rejoice  that  I  have,  in  so  high 
a  degree,  tasted  the  felicities  of  maternal  love.  I  re- 
joice in  the  assurance  that  He  has  accepted  the  offer- 
ing at  my  hands. 


1842.  157 

You,  too,  know  what  it  is  to  receive  a  gift,  and 
to  restore  the  same  to  the  Giver.  A  lamb  of  the  first 
year  without  blemish.  What  a  precious  offering! 
Thank  the  blessed  Savior  for  the  rich  experience 
which  such  scenes  of  unutterable  tenderness  and  sub- 
limity bring  with  them. 

ARTICLE    V. 

To   Mrs.    M.   M.   Cummings,    New   York   City. 

Kailua,  December  10,  1842. 

I  HAVE  written  you  once  since  I  left  America,  but 
as  there  is  a  vessel  lying  at  Honolulu,  bound  di- 
rectly to  New  York,  I  cannot  refrain  from  dropping 
vou  a  line,  dictated  from  my  own  home.  It  was  on 
the  24th  of  October  that  I  found  rest  in  the  house  of 
a  husband,  that  my  children  found  a  father's  hand 
and  a  father's  home,  added  to  a  mother's  care. 

The  natives  were  overjoyed  at  my  return.  Those 
who  had  lived  in  our  family  knelt  around  me,  and 
wept  aloud,  bathing  my  hands  with  their  tears.  For 
several  weeks  there  was  a  continued  series  of  calls, 
the  kind-hearted  natives  coming  by  schools  and  by 
districts  to  welcome  my  return.  Of  these,  some  burst 
out  into  a  wail,  but  the  more  enlightened  only  wept. 
Some  spoke  of  their  joy,  and  some  of  God's  long- 
suffering  in  permitting  us  to  meet.  Some  spoke  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  had  prayed  for  us  in  the 
social  circle,  and  in  secret  places  ;  and  some  of  their 
love  to  their  teacher  who  left  his  family  to  dwell  alone 
with  them.  Some  spoke  of  the  great  turning  of  the 
natives  to  the  Lord  during  my  absence,  and  some 
named  the  scholars  of  my  children,  most  of  whom 
were  now  sisters  in  the  church.     Some  spoke  of  the 


158  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

sad  fate,  and  others  of  the  blessedness  of  the  departed 
Lucy.  Some  sympathized  with  our  children  left  in 
America,  bereaved,  separated,  and  made  orphans  in 
that  far-off  land  of  strangers.  Those  children,  they 
said  with  tears,  are  our  children.  They  were  born 
and  reared  in  our  land.     Great  is  our  love  for  them. 

Now  that  I  am  once  more  established  in  my  own 
home,  I  increasingly  feel  my  obligations  to  make  it 
an  asylum  for  the  invalid  and  the  stranger.  A  voice 
from  yonder  distant  shores  seems  to  follow  me,  say- 
ing:   "Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give." 

My  three  eldest  children  are  all  far,  far  away. 
But  I  have  given  them  all  to  a  God  of  infinite  wisdom 
and  benevolence.  In  so  doing  each  contributes  to  the 
happiness  of  every  waking  hour  of  my  life.  There 
is  Lucy's  corner,  her  window,  her  table,  her  chair. 
There  she  sat,  and  studied,  and  wrote.  Now,  mortal 
has  exchanged  for  immortality.  In  strains  gentle  and 
joyous  she  speaks  from  heaven.  Wjhat  do  I  say?  An 
own  child  in  heaven?  How  shall  I  sufficiently  praise 
God  on  earth,  for  connecting  with  our  family,  by 
natural  bonds,  an  heir  of  glory?  I  gaze  at  her  up- 
ward flight.  It  is,  as  it  were,  a  golden  chain,  mooring 
our  family  within  sight  of  the  celestial  city.  O,  for 
a  heart  to  praise  the  Lord  with  every  breath,  and 
with  childlike  simplicity  and  confidence  trust  Him 
with  all  my  concerns,  serving  and  glorifying  Him, 
just  in  the  way  he  is  pleased  to  direct. 
Yours  most  affectionately, 

LUCY  G.  THURSTON. 


ARTICLE    VI. 

A    Meeting   of    Confession    and    Thanksgiving. 

Kailua,  November  9,  1845. 

My  Dear  Daughter  Persis: 

At  the  last  General  Meeting  a.  fast  was  observed, 
quite  at  the  commencement  of  the  meeting".  At  the 
first  exercise  your  father  presided.  Read  the  third 
chapter  of  First  John,  and  you  will  see  what  he  took 
for  the  foundations  of  his  remarks.  He  trimmed  as 
closely  as  ever  you  heard  him  trim  anybody,  and  con- 
cluded by  saying  that  he  had  been  twenty-three  years 
a  member  of  this  mission,  during  which  time  you  must 
have  heard  of  and  seen  him  do  many  things  contrary 
to  this  feeling  of  love.  He  made  confession  of  his 
deficiencies  and  sins,  and  asked  their  forgiveness.  Be- 
fore the  day  was  through,  six  other  missionaries,  each 
in  turn,  were  seen  presenting  themselves  individually 
before  the  house  making  confession  and  asking  for- 
giveness. A  meeting  thus  commenced  was  concluded 
with  thanksgiving.  The  brethren  expressed  them- 
selves as  I  never  before  heard  them,  respecting  that 
spirit  of  love,  of  tenderness,  and  of  forbearance,  which 
had  been  exhibited  throughout  the  meeting.  Your 
father  was  called  upon  to  conclude  the  meeting.  He 
commenced  in  strains  of  thanksgiving — was  overcome 
by  emotion,  paused — only  adding,  with  a  faltering 
voice,  "In  union  may  we  be  one,  in  heart  and  action 
one,  then  we  shall  be  one  with  Thee  in  heaven." 

159 

12 


ARTICLE    VII. 

Poisoned  by   Strychnine. 

Kail.ua,  April  3,  1850. 

T^OR  a  fortnight  I  had  experienced  multiplied  ills. 
■■■  I  had  overcome  all.  Debility  alone  remained.  A 
tonic,  of  all  things,  was  what  I  most  wanted.  O,  for 
some  quinine!  The  Dr.  had  pointed  out  a  particular 
vial  of  it  to  your  father  for  his  own  use.  He  had  fre- 
quently spoken  of  it,  but  it  was  not  prepared,  and  he 
said  he  knew  not  how  to  put  it  into  a  liquid  state. 
After  consulting  a  medical  book,  I  sent  to  the  Doc- 
tor's and  asked  your  father  for  the  vial  of  quinine. 
It  was  brought.  The  label  is  French,  I  thought.  The 
name,  what  is  it?  Strychnine.  The  last  syllable  is. 
like  quinine  in  English.  I  am  alike  ignorant  of  the 
French  and  of  the  medicine.  But.  Mr.  Thurston  and 
Dr.  Andrews  know.  Now  for  mixing  it.  This  shall 
be  done  by  my  recipe ;  19  grains  of  quinine  dissolved 
in  one  hundred  teaspoons  of  diluted  alcohol,  with  three 
drops  of  sulphuric  acid;  ten  teaspoons  would  then 
contain  a  grain;  3l/3  teaspoons  l/3  of  a  grain.  This 
last  shall  be  a  potion.  I  first  tried  it  by  taking  one 
teaspoonful.  It  did  not  affect  me  much  anyway.  So 
the  next  morning,  before  breakfast,  I  took  one-third 
of  a  grain.  Having  already  exercised  to  the  extent 
of  my  strength,  I  lay  down  on  my  bed,  facing  the 
north.  Singular  sensations  suddenly  came  over  me. 
I  turned  half  way  over,  in  order  the  better  to  be  heard 
from  the  school-room,  saying:  "Mary,  come  here,  do; 
I   feel  so  strangely,  I  don't  like  to  "be  alone."     This 

160 


1850.  161 

was  no  sooner  uttered,  than  I  became  transfixed  in 
the  very  position  in  which  I  had  turned  to  speak  to 
her.  "Where  is  Thomas  ?  Let  him  go  for  your  father. 
Let  him  come  first  and  see  how  I  am.  Don't  alarm 
him.  Tell  him  it  is  from  taking  quinine."  Ever  and 
anon,  a  wedge  seemed  driven  through  me,  the  tension 
becoming  higher  and  higher,  and  still  another  and 
another  wedge  to  very  extremity.  To  touch  me  was 
renewed  agony.  To  hold  my  hands  and  feet  with  a 
firm  grasp  seemed  to  stay  me  from  being  sundered 
in  twain.  Every  window  and  every  door  was  thrown 
open  from  the  first.  Your  father  at  length  said,  "I 
feel  very  faint."  He  let  go  my  hand,  halted  a  little, 
and  reeled  to  the  door.  After  taking  water  he  re- 
vived ;  asked  to  see  the  medicine,  and  expressed  his 
doubts  of  its  being  quinine.  One  hour  had  now 
elapsed.  My  first  stage  of  suffering  was  ended.  But 
it  was  succeeded  by  another  still  more  severe.  I  was 
as  immovable  as  ever,  while  convulsions  took  posses- 
sion of  my  frame.  Every  minute  or  two  a  strong 
spasm  passed  over  me.  What  was  more,  it  required 
the  stillness  of  death  to  prevent  these  spasms  from 
being  constant  upon  me.  To  touch  me,  to  touch  the 
bed,  to  step  on  the  floor,  to  swing  the  fan,  caused  my 
whole  frame  to  be  shaken  with  intense  suffering.  A 
teaspoonful  of  water,  put  into  my  mouth  and  swal- 
lowed, produced  convulsions  of  double  strength. 
"Leave  me  in  the  room  alone.  Stay  on  that  side  of 
the  threshold."  Yet  there  was  I  myself.  My  very 
teeth  closed  so  into  the  gums  as  to  produce  spasms. 
To  open  them  a  little  produced  spasms.  To  move  my 
tongue  or  speak,  produced  spasms.  I  was  hard  pressed 
to  hold  onto  life  without  breathing.  In  my  thoughts, 
I  hushed  myself  as  if  dealing  with  infancy.  "Be  quiet, 
be  quiet,  be  quiet.     Hush,  hush,  hush."    I  said  to  my- 


162  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

self:  "I  am  cut  off  from  human  aid,  shut  up  in  the 
hand  of  the  Almighty.  Jesus  was  immovably  sus- 
pended on  the  cross.  He  knows  how  to  be  touched 
with  the  feelings  of  our  infirmities.  In  such  pitiable 
distress  and  helplessness,  1  cling  to  such  a  Savior,  I 
yield  myself  to  Him  for  suffering,  or  ease,  or  action ; 
for  life  or  death.  Only  purify  me  from  sin,  even  as 
silver  is  purified  in  the  furnace."  I  repeated  many 
times  to  myself  the  hymn,  commencing, 

"Jesus,   Savior  of  my  soul." 

Thus  shut  up  to  utter  helplessness,  to  solitude 
and  thought,  it  proved  one  of  the  most  interesting- 
seasons  of  my  existence.  From  seven  to  eleven  I 
was  in  one  position  on  my  bed,  as  if  in  bands  of  brass. 
At  one,  your  father  assisted  me  to  recline  on  pillows 
in  the  armed  chair  in  the  school  room.  Convulsions 
ceased  altogether  by  two.  The  children  sat  by  the 
center  table,  industriously  employed  in  tumbling  over 
the  leaves  of  half  a  dozen  volumes.  Now  and  then 
sentences  were  read  aloud  for  general  edification. 
Strychnine  was  the  chosen  subject,  and  their  investi- 
gations showed  the  drug  to  be  a  most  deadly  poison. 

Four  o'clock  in  the  p.  m.,  found  me,  with  my 
cane,  just  able  to  set  one  foot  before  the  other,  abroad 
in  the  balmy  air.  I  accommodated  myself  to  feeble- 
ness by  sitting  down  by  my  little  nursling  tree,  and 
removing  its  tiny  twigs.  The  lamps  were  lighted,  the 
supper  bell  rang,  and  four  cheerful  faces  were  grouped 
at  that  evening  meal.  Then  reading  as  usual,  Carlyle's 
Cromwell.  His  last  sickness  and  death.  Cromwell ! 
How  I  have  wronged  him  by  ranking  him  among 
hypocrites.    Now  I  count  him  among  earth's  worthies. 


1850.  163 

But  I  forget  that  I  am  simply  giving-  you  a  peep  at 
,our  house  on  the  25th  of  March.     Fare  ye  well. 

[After  taking  the  strychnine,  three  months  elapsed  before  I 
reached  the  state  in  which  I  was  before  my  nearly  fatal  mistake.  Then 
the  improvement  still  went  on,  and  the  heaviness  that  I  had  experi- 
enced on  my  right  side  ever  since  my  attack  of  paralysis,  and  also  the 
frequent  feelings  as  if  another  attack  was  impending,  left  me  entirely 
and   forever.] 

ARTICLE    VIII. 

A    Farewell   Note   Before    a    Voyage   to   the   United   States. 

Kailua,  September  15,  1850. 

I  address  a  line  to  the  companion  of  my  youth, 
my  protector,  my  counsellor,  the  father  of  my  chil- 
dren, my  husband.  For  thirty  years  we  have  traveled 
life's  pathway  together.  Now  I  go  to  be  repaired 
like  a  worn  shoe,  that  in  active  life  I  may  hold  on  by 
your  side.  But  I  am  borne  up  by  your  sanction,  ad- 
vice, and  wishes,  and  by  the  approval  of  our  fathers, 
great  and  good  men.  I  go,  and  in  so  doing,  strip  your 
home  of  its  remaining  olive  plants.  I  leave  you  in 
a  house  so  solitary,  that  in  midnight  silence  you  will 
hear  no  other  sound  than  the  ticking  of  the  clock. 
As  Lucy  on  her  death-bed  said :  "Alone,  all  alone." 
Thus  desolate,  should  sickness  prostrate,  and  death 
do  its  work,  farewell.  .The  life  to  come.  The  life  to 
come. 

For  myself,  I  give  up  rest  and  the  quiet  pleasures 
of  domestic  life  in  the  house  of  an  affectionate  indul- 
gent husband.  Without  a  shield,  with  woman's  weak- 
ness and  woman's  infirmities,  I  go  to  take  my  chance, 
and  become  a  wanderer  on  ocean  and  on  land.  A 
ship-wrecked  vessel,  fire  at  sea,  famine  in  a  boat,  a 
desolate  island,  and  lawless  pirates, — these  are  some 
of  the  dangers  that  lie  in  ambush  on  the  highway  of 


164  Life   of    Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

oceans.  Nor  do  I  forget,  that  though  I  plant  my  feet 
in  safety  on  the  shores  of  the  pilgrim  fathers,  fell  dis-» 
ease  is  there.  Open  vaults  are  there.  Let  us  stand 
in  our  lot,  girding  ourselves  anew,  having  on  the 
whole  armor.  Let  us  be  of  good  courage,  play,  the 
man  for  our  people,  our  children,  ourselves,  and  the 
Lord  do  what  seemeth  him  good. 

You  have,  with  unsurpassed  kindness,  opened  our 
way  before  us.  Now,  clay  by  day,  lift  up  your  heart 
on  high,  that  faithfulness  and  wisdom,  that  humility 
and  grace  be  given  us  liberally.  Often  write  to  me 
across  the  continent.  Tell  me  of  your  welfare,  and 
how  you  prosper.  Remind  me  of  my  duty.  Thus  I 
shall  be  ever  made  to  feel  your  left  hand  beneath  my 
head,  and  your  right  hand  embracing  me. 

Like  the  mysterious  influence  of  the  North  Pole 
over  the  magnet,  so  you  will  be  to  me,  to  restrain,  to 
beckon,  and  to  bring  back  to  a  state  of  rest. 

At  home  and  abroad,  in  life  and  death.  I  am  your 
affectionate  wife. 

ARTICLE    IX. 

To  a  Daughter  left   in  a  Seminary  in  the  United  States.     Written  while 
on  the  Voyage  back  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

My  Dear  Daughter  Mary: 

Thirty-two  years  ago,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four, 
I  first  passed  this  way.  Then,  by  my  side,  I  had  my 
only  earthly  stay,  my  new-found  husband,  a  strong 
support,  firm  in  principle,  fixed  in  purpose,  refined  in 
feeling,  indulgent,  and  faithful  in  love.  Now  at  the 
age  of  fifty-six,  I  am  again  here  on  my  fifth  voyage 
around  Cape  Horn.  But  it  is  the  first  time  in  my  pil- 
grimage from  my  father's  house,  that  moons  wax  and 


1852.  165 

wane,  while  I  am  called  to  thread  alone  the  rugged 
pathway  of  life.  Now,  alone ;  yet  not  a  widow. 
Alone :  yet  not  childless.  No,  not  alone.  My  multi- 
plied precious  ones  cluster  continually  around  my 
heart.  Alone?  No.  I  see  them.  I  feel  their  mighty 
influence.  Husband,  sons,  daughters,  grand-daugh- 
ters, all  are  mine — mine  to  give  warmth,  and  richness, 
and  depth,  and  fullness  to  a  fountain  within,  ever 
fresh,  ever  flowing,  ever  widening.  I  go  to  rejoin  the 
husband  of  my  youth,  the  father  of  my  children.  They 
have  now  all  left  the  parental  roof,  to  obtain  privileges 
found  only  in  the  fatherland.  Father  and  mother  will 
still  be  there,  if  it  be  the  Master's  will,  serving  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  green  old  age.  We  stop  not  to  in- 
quire, what  will  become  of  us  in  sickness, — what  in 
the  decline  of  life, — what  in  case  of  bereavement  ? 
But — what  is  present  duty?  What  are  we  able  to 
accomplish?     What  endure? 

My  daughter,  my  nurse,  housekeeper  and  shield, 
my  companion,  pupil,  and  counsellor,  three  times  my 
fellow  passenger  around  Cape  Horn,  now  our  path- 
way diverges.  I  go  away  and  leave  you — leave  you 
all  alone.  Yet  it  is  self-denying  parental  affection,  it 
is  trust  in  God,  that  bids  us  say:  "Go,  avail  yourself 
of  the  advantages  of  enlightened  America,  and  thus 
become  to  your  friends  and  society,  as  a  'corner-stone, 
polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace'." 

Yet  can  I  go  through  all  this  without  having  my 
heart  probed  to  the  very  bottom?  In  my  lone  room 
my  tears  often  flow.  But  I  thank  the  Author  of  my 
nature  that  he  has  enlarged  my  being  by  endowing 
me  with  these  affections,  and  by  giving  me  such  an 
object  on  whom  to  place  them.  Now  that  I  can  do 
nothing  more,  it  soothes  and  sustains  me  to  commit 


166  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

you,  unreservedly  to  the  wisdom  and  love,  the  care 
and  guidance  of  the  blessed  Savior.  With  uplifted 
heart,  I  wait  for  the  winds  to  bear  me  intelligence 
of  the  opened  pages  of  providence  respecting  you. 
May  both  mother  and  daughter  cultivate  a  spirit  of 
willingness  to  go  where  he  bids  us,  to  live  where  he 
places  us,  to  bear  what  he  lays  upon  us,  and  to  die 
— when  he  calls  us. 

That  you  have  been  allowed  to  remain  within  the 
family  sanctuary  till  your  ideas,  tastes,  habits,  and 
principles  have  been  formed,  till  your  young  affec- 
tions for  your  own  parents,  brothers  and  sisters  have 
been  ripened  and  matured,  I  count  among  my  greatest 
earthly  blessings.  Now  you  go  forth  on  a  pilgrimage ; 
but  you  go  cherished  and  sustained  by  some  of  the 
strongest  feelings  that  cluster  within  the  human  heart. 
You  know  and  can  confide  in  the  care  and  love  of  your 
father  and  mother,  your  sisters  and  brothers.  Those 
two  little  buds,  too,  will  learn  to  lisp  and  love  their 
aunt.  And  Lucy,  our  sainted  one !  In  the  midnight 
hour  I  often  think  her  near  my  pillow.  On  my  breath 
is  the  whisper:    "Go,  be  to  Mary  a  guardian  angel." 

Your  parents  have  been  blessed  with  a  heritage 
of  toil  and  self-denial,  urged  on  by  love,  trust,  and 
hope.  Treasures,  our  all,  have  multiplied  beneath  our 
hands.  One-fifth  part  of  these  priceless  possessions 
is  vested  in  you.  Occupy  for  the  great  Master's  use, 
neither  wasting  by  imprudence,  nor  burying  in  a  nap- 
kin. Prepare  yourself  for  useful  service  in  earning 
day  by  day  your  daily  bread.  Still  think  of  your  fath- 
er's home  as  yours,  and  yourself  as  ours.  At  the  same 
time  think  of  yourself  as  at  your  own  disposal.  You 
will  first  obtain  a  knowledge  of  books,  of  life,  and  of 
human  nature ;  then  according  to  vour  own  tastes  and 


1852.  167 

judgment,  select  your  future  pathway  in  life.  In 
whatever  circumstances  you  are  placed,  in  heart  and 
action,  cherish  a  spirit  which  will  sympathize  with 
the  Savior  in  his  work  of  benevolence  to  our  revolted 
race. 

I  wish  to  point  you  to  the  temptations  and  trials 
of  earth.  You  are  treading-  a  pathway  strewed  with 
magic  thorns  and  flowers.  If  you  go  forward  and 
tread  resolutely  upon  the  thorns  they  will  become 
flowers.  If  you  turn  from  the  path  of  duty  to  gather 
the  flowers,  they  will  become  thorns. 

The  softening,  elevating  influence  of  a  virtuous 
sister's  love,  in  forming  a  brother's  character  is  im- 
mense. Think  of  this,  and  take  for  your  motto,  "She 
hath  done  what  she  could." 

When  an  inmate  in  the  families  of  those  who  wel- 
come you  to  their  fireside,  strive  to  render  yourself 
useful.  In  doing  so,  and  learning  their  method,  the 
greater  benefit  will  be  your  own.  Housekeeping  is 
woman's  profession.  I  wish  you  to  give  special  atten- 
tion to  this  subject.  To  be  able  to  sustain  the  re- 
sponsibility, to  regulate  and  to  perform  every  part  of 
household  good,  in  the  most  accomplished  manner,  is 
woman's  glory. 

It  is  a  subject  of  untold  importance  that  you  at- 
tend to  your  health.  A  good  constitution  is  one  of  the 
corner-stones  to  a  useful  and  happy  life.  Study  and 
obey  nature's  laws.  Let  understanding  and  prudence 
be  your  counsellors,  leading  you  to  take  good  care  of 
the  delicate  machinery   of  your  system. 

A  dozen  years  ago,  ours  was  an  unbroken  family, 
together  surrounding  one  family  board.  Now,  with- 
out looking  at  the  wanderer  on  this  great  and  wide 
ocean,  we  are  scattered  on  two  islands,  in  two  coun- 
tries, and  in  two  worlds.     Still  we  are  all  bound  to- 


168  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

gether  in  love.  That  this  love  may  become  sanctified 
and  perpetuated  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  is  the  heart's 
desire  and  daily  prayer  of, 

Your  affectionate  Mother. 

ARTICLE    X. 

,  A   Surgical   Operation. 

My  Dear  Daughter  Mary: 

I  have  hitherto  forborne  to  write  respecting-  the 
surgical  operation  I  experienced  in  September,  from 
an  expectation  that  you  would  be  with  us  so  soon. 
That  is  now  given  up ;  so  I  proceed  to  give  a  circum- 
stantial account  of  those  days  of  peculiar  discipline. 
At  the  end  of  the  General  Meeting  in  June  your  father 
returned  to  Kailua,  leaving  me  at  Honolulu,  in  Mr. 
Taylor's  family,  under  Dr.  Ford's  care.  Dr.  Hille- 
brand  was  called  in  counsel.  During  the  latter  part 
of  August  they  decided  on  the  use  of  the  knife.  Mr. 
Thurston  was  sent  for  to  come  down  according  to 
agreement  should  such  be  the  result.  I  requested  him 
to  bring  certain  things  which  I  wished,  in  case  I  no 
more  returned  to  Kailua.  Tremendous  gales  of  wind 
were  now  experienced.  One  vessel  was  wrecked  with- 
in sight  of  Kailua.  Another,  on  her  way  there,  nearly 
foundered,  and  returned  only  to  be  condemned.  In 
vain  we  looked  for  another  conveyance.  Meantime, 
the  tumor  was  rapidly  altering.  It  had  nearly  ap- 
proached the  surface,  exhibiting  a  dark  spot.  Should 
it  become  an  open  ulcer,  the  whole  system  would  be- 
come vitiated  with  its  malignity.  Asa  said  he  should 
take   no   responsibility   of  waiting  the   arrival  of  his 


1855.  169 

father.  Persis  felt  the  same.  Saturday  p.  m.,  the 
doctors  met  in  consultation,  and  advised  an  immedi- 
ate operation.  The  next  Thursday  ( 12th  of  Septem- 
ber), ten  o'clock  a.  m.,  was  the  hour  fixed  upon.  In 
classifying,  the  Dr.  placed  this  among-  "capital  opera- 
tions." Both  doctors  advised  not  to  take  chloroform 
because  of  my  having-  had  the  paralysis.  I  was  glad 
they  allowed  me  the  use  of  my  senses.  Persis  offered 
me  her  parlor,  and  Asa  his  own  new  bridal  room 
for  the  occasion.  But  I  preferred  the  retirement  and 
quietude  of  the  grass-thatched  cottage.  Thomas,  with 
all  his  effects  moved  out  of  it  into  a  room  a  few  steps 
off.  The  house  was  thoroughly  cleaned  and  prettily 
fitted  up.  One  lady  said  it  seemed  as  though  it  had 
been  got  up  by  magic.  Monday,  just  at  night,  Dr. 
Ford  called  to  see  that  all  was  in  readiness.  There 
were  two  lounges  trimmed,  one  with  white,  the  other 
with  rose-colored  mosquito  netting.  There  was  a  re- 
clining Chinese  chair,  a  table  for  the  instruments,  a 
wash-stand  with  wash  bowls,  sponges,  and  pails  of 
water.  There  was  a  frame  with  two  dozen  towels, 
and  a  table  of  choice  stimulants  and  restoratives.  One 
more  table  with  the  Bible  and  hymn  book. 

That  night  I  spent  in  the  house  alone  for  the  first 
time.  The  family  had  all  retired  for  the  night.  In 
the  still  hour  of  darkness,  I  long  walked  back  and 
forth  in  the  capacious  door-yard.  Depraved,  diseased, 
helpless,  I  yielded  myself  up  entirely  to  the  will,  the 
wisdom,  and  the  strength  of  the  Holy  One.  At  peace 
with  myself,  with  earth,  and  with  heaven,  I  calmly 
laid  my  head  upon  my  pillow  and  slept  refreshingly. 
A  bright  day  opened  upon  us.  My  feelings  were  natu- 
ral, cheerful,  elevated.     I  took  the  Lord  at  his  own 


170  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

word :  "As  the  day  is,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 
There  with  an  unwavering"  heart,  I  leaned  for  strength 
and  support.  Before  dressing  for  the  occasion,  I  took 
care  to  call  on  Ellen,  who  had  then  an  infant  a  week 
old  by  her  side.  It  was  a  cheerful  call,  made  in  a 
common  manner,  she  not  being  acquainted  with  the 
movements  of  the  day.  I  then  prepared  myself  for 
the  t  professional  call.  Dr.  Judd  was  early  on  the 
ground.  I  went  with  him  to  Asa's  room,  where  with 
Asa  and  Sarah  we  sat  and  conversed  till  other  medical 
men  rode  up.  Dr.  Judd  rose  to  go  out.  I  did  the 
same.  Asa  said :  "You  had  better  not  go,  you  are 
not  wanted  yet."  I  replied :  "I  wish  to  be  among  the 
first  on  the  ground,  to  prevent  its  coming  butt  end 
first."  On  reaching  my  room.  Dr.  Ford  was  there. 
He  introduced  me  to  Dr.  Hoffman  of  Honolulu,  and 
to  Dr.  Brayton  of  an  American  Naval  ship,  then 
in  port.  The  instruments  were  then  laid  out  upon 
the  table.  Strings  were  prepared  for  tying  arteries. 
Needles  threaded  for  sewing  up  the  wound.  Adhe- 
sive plasters  were  cut  into  strips,  bandages  produced, 
and  the  Chinese  chair  placed  by  them  in  the  front 
double  door.  Everything  was  now  in  readiness,  save 
the  arrival  of  one  physician.  All  stood  around  the 
house  or  in  the  piazza.  Dr.  Ford,  on  whom  devolved 
the  responsibility,  paced  the  door-yard.  I  stood  in  the 
house  with  others,  making  remarks  on  passing  occur- 
rences. At  length  I  was  invited  to  sit.  I  replied : 
"As  I  shall  be  called  to  lie  a  good  while,  I  had  rather 
now  stand."  Dr.  Brayton,  as  he  afterwards  said,  to 
his  utter  astonishment  found  that  the  lady  to  be  op- 
erated on  was  standing  in  their  midst. 

Dr.  Hillebrand  arrived.  It  was  a  signal  for  ac- 
tion. Persis  and  I  stepped  behind  a  curtain.  I  threw 
off  my  cap  and  dressing  gown,  and  appeared  with  a 


1855.  171 

white  flowing  skirt,  with  the  white  bordered  shawl 
purchased  in  1818,  thrown  over  my  shoulders.  I  took 
my  seat  in  the  chair.  Persis  and  Asa  stood  at  my 
right  side ;  Persis  to  hand  me  restoratives ;  Asa  to 
use  his  strength,  if  self-control  were  wanting.  Dr. 
Judd  stood  at  my  left  elbow  for  the  same  reason; 
my  shawl  was  thrown  off,  exhibiting  my  left  arm, 
breast  and  side,  perfectly  bare.  Dr.  Ford  showed 
me  how  I  must  hold  back  my  left  arm  to  the  great- 
est possible  extent,  with  my  hand  taking  a  firm  hold 
of  the  arm  of  my  chair:  with  my  right  hand,  I  took 
hold  of  the  right  arm,  with  my  feet  I  pressed  against 
the  foot  of  the  chair.  Thus  instructed,  and  every- 
thing in  readiness.  Dr.  Ford  looked  me  full  in  the  face, 
and  with  great  firmness  asked :  "Have  you  made  up 
your  mind  to  have  it  cut  out  ?"  "Yes,  sir."  "Are  you 
ready  now  ?"  "Yes,  sir ;  but  let  me  know  when  you 
begin,  that  I  may  be  able  to  bear  it.  Have  you  your 
knife  in  that  hand  now?"  He  opened  his  hand  that 
I  might  see  it,  saying,  "I  am  going  to  begin  now." 
Then  came  a  gash  long  and  deep,  first  on  one  side  of 
my  breast,  then  on  the  other.  Deep  sickness  seized 
me,  and  deprived  me  of  my  breakfast.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  extreme  faintness.  My  sufferings  were  no 
longer  local.  There  was  a  general  feeling  of  agony 
throughout  the  whole  system.  I  felt,  every  inch  of  me, 
as  though  flesh  was  failing.  During  the  whole  opera- 
tion, I  was  enabled  to  have  entire  self  control  over  my 
person,  and  over  my  voice.  Persis  and  Asa  were  de- 
votedly employed  in  sustaining  me  with  the  use  of  cor- 
dials, ammonia,  bathing  my  temples,  &c.  I  myself  fully 
intended  to  have  seen  the  thing  done.  But  on  recol- 
lection, every  glimpse  I  happened  to  have,  was  the 
doctor's  right  hand  completely  covered  with  blood, 
up  to  the  very  wrist.      He  afterwards  told  me,  that 


172  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

at  one  time  the  blood  from  an  artery  flew  into  is  eyes, 
so  that  he  could  not  see.  It  was  nearly  an  hour  and 
a  half  that  I  was  beneath  his  hand,  in  cutting  out  the 
entire  breast,  in  cutting  out  the  glands  beneath  the 
arm,  in  tying  the  arteries,  in  absorbing  the  blood,  in 
sewing  up  the  wound,  in  putting  on  the  adhesive  plas- 
ters, and  in  applying  the  bandage. 

The  views  and  feelings  of  that  hour  are  now  vivid 
to  my  recollection.  It  was  during  the  cutting  process 
that  I  began  to  talk.  The -feeling  that  I  had  reached 
a  different  point  from  those  by  whom  I  was  sur- 
rounded, inspired  me  with  freedom.  It  was  thus 
that  I  expressed  myself.  "It  has  been  a  great  trial  to 
my  feelings  that  Mr.  Thurston  is  not  here.  But  it  is 
not  necessary.  So  many  friends,  and  Jesus  Christ 
besides.  His  left  hand  is  underneath  my  head,  His 
right  hand  sustains  and  embraces  me.  I  am  willing 
to  suffer.  I  am  willing  to  die.  I  am  not  afraid  of 
death.  I  am  not  afraid  of  hell.  I  anticipate  a  blessed 
immortality.  Tell  Mr.  Thurston  my  peace  flows  like 
a  river. 

"Upward   I  lift  mine   eyes. 
From  God  is  all  my  aid: 
The   God  that  built  the  skies, 

And   earth   and  nature   made. 
God    is   the    tower 
To  which   I  fly; 
His  grace  is  nigh 
In  every  hour." 

God  disciplines  me,  but  He  does  it  with  a  gentle 
hand.  At  one  time  I  said,  "I  know  you  will  bear  with 
me."  Asa  replied,  "I  think  it  is  you  that  have  to  bear 
from  us." 

The  doctor,  after  removing  the  entire  breast,  said 
to  me,  "I  want  to  cut  yet  more,  round  under  your 
arm."  I  replied,  "Do  just  what  you  want  to  do,  only 
tell  me  when,  so  that  I  can  bear  it."     One  said  the 


1855.  173 

wound  had  the  appearance  of  being  more  than  a  foot 
long.  Eleven  arteries  were  taken  up.  After  a  be- 
ginning had  been  made  in  sewing  it  up,  Persis  said : 
"Mother,  the  doctor  makes  as  nice  a  seam  as  you  ever 
made  in  your  life."  "Tell  me,  Persis,  when  he  is 
going  to  put  in  the  needle,  so  that  I  can  bear  it." 
"Now — now — now,"  &c.  "Yes,  tell  me.  That  is  a 
good  girl."  Ten  stitches  were  taken,  two  punctures 
at  every  stitch,  one  on  either  side.  When  the  whole 
work  was  done,  Dr.  Ford  and  Asa  removed  my  chair 
to  the  back  side  of  the  room,  and  laid  me  on  the 
lounge.  Dr.  Brayton  came  to  my  side,  and  taking  me 
by  the  hand  said :  "There  is  not  one  in  a  thousand 
who  would  have  borne  it  as  you  have  done." 

Up  to  this  time,  everything  is  fresh  to  my  recol- 
lection. Of  that  afternoon  and  night,  I  only  remem- 
ber that  the  pain  in  the  wound  was  intense  and  un- 
remitting, and  that  I  felt  willing  to  be  just  in  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  I  was  placed.  I  am  told  that 
Dr.  Ford  visited  me  once  in  the  afternoon,  and  once 
in  the  night,  that  Persis  and  Asa  took  care  of  me, 
that  it  seemed  as  if  I  suffered  nearly  as  much  as  dur- 
ing the  operation,  and  that  my  wound  was  constantly 
wet  with  cold  water.  I  have  since  told  Persis,  that 
"I  thought  they  kept  me  well  drugged  with  pare- 
goric." He  replied,  "We  did  not  give  you  a  drop." 
"Why  then  do  I  not  remember  what  took  place?" 
"Because  you  had  so  little  life  about  you."  By  morn- 
ing light  the  pain  had  ceased.  Surgeons  would  under- 
stand the  expression,  that  the  wound  healed  by  a 
"union  of  the  first  intention." 

The  morning  again  brought  to  my  mind  a  recol- 
lection of  events.  I  was  lying  on  my  lounge,  feeble 
and  helpless.  I  opened  my  eyes  and  saw  the  light  of 
day.     Asa  was  crossing  the  room  bearing  a  Bible  be- 


174  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

fore  him.     He  sat  down  near  my  couch,  read  a  por- 
tion, and  then  prayed. 

For  several  days,  I  had  long  sinking-  turns  of 
several  hours.  Thursday  night,  the  third  of  suffer- 
ing, Thomas  rode  nearly  two  miles  to  the  village  for 
the  Dr.,  once  in  the  fore  part  of  the  evening,  again 
at  eleven.  At  both  times  he  came.  At  two  o'clock- 
he  unexpectedly  made  his  third  call  that  night.  It 
was  at  his  second  call  that  he  said  to  Persis :  "In  the 
morning  make  your  mother  some  chicken  soup.  She 
has  starved  long  enough."  (They  had  been  afraid 
of  fever.)  Persis  immediately  aroused  Thomas,  had 
a  chicken  caught,  a  fire  made,  and  a  soup  under  way 
that  same  midnight  hour.  The  next  day,  Friday,  I 
was  somewhat  revived  by  the  use  of  wine  and  soup. 
In  the  afternoon,  your  father  arrived.  It  was  the  first 
time  since  the  operation,  that  I  felt  as  if  I  had  life 
enough  to  endure  the  emotion  of  seeing  him.  He  left 
Kailua  the  same  day  the  operation  was  performed'. 
A  vessel  was  passing  in-  sight  of  Kailua.  He  rowed 
out  in  a  canoe  and  was  received  on  board.  Hitherto, 
Persis,  Asa  and  Thomas,  had  been  my  only  nurses 
both  by  day  and  by  night.  The  doctor  gave  directions 
that  no  one  enter  the  room,  but  those  that  took  care 
of  me. 

For  weeks  my  debility  was  so  great,  that  I  was 
fed  with  a  teaspoon,  like  an  infant.  Many  dangers 
were  apprehended.  During  one  day,  I  saw  a  dupli- 
cate of  every  person  and  every  thing  that  my  eye  be- 
held. Thus  it  was,  sixteen  years  before,  when  I  had 
the  paralysis.  Three  weeks  after  the  operation,  your 
father  for  the  first  time,  very  slowly  raised  me  to  the 
angle  of  45  degrees.  It  seemed  as  if  it  would  have 
taken  away  my  sense.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
I  perceptibly  improved  from  day  to  day,  so  much  so, 
that  in  four  weeks  from  mv  confinement,  I  was  lifted 


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1855.  175 

into  a  carriage.  Then  I  rode  with  your  father  almost 
every  day.  As  he  was  away  from  his  field  of  labor, 
and  without  any  family  responsibilities,  he  was  en- 
tirely devoted  to  me.  It  was  of  great  importance  to 
me,  that  he  was  at  liberty  and  in  readiness  ever  to 
read  simple  interesting  matter  to  me,  to  enliven  and 
to  cheer,  so  that  time  never  passed  heavily.  After 
remaining  with  me  six  weeks,  he  returned  to  Kailua, 
leaving  me  with  the  physician  and  with  our  children. 

In  a  few  weeks,  Mother,  ,Mr.  Taylor,  Persis, 
Thomas,  Lucy,  Mary,  and  George  bade  farewell  to 
Asa  and  Sarah,  and  to  little  Robert,  their  black-eyed 
baby  boy.  Together  we  passed  over  the  rough  chan- 
nels up  to  the  old  homestead.  Then,  your  father  in- 
stead of  eating  his  solitary  meals,  had  his  family  board 
enlarged  for  .the  accommodation  of  three  generations. 

And  here  is  again  your  mother,  engaged  in  life's 
duties,  and  life's  warfare.  Fare  thee  well.  Be  one 
with  us  in  knowledge,  sympathy,  and  love,  though  we 
see  thee  not,  and  when  sickness  prostrates,  we  feel 
not  thy  hand  upon  our  brow. 

Your  loving-  Mother. 


ARTICLE   XL 

Death   of   Asa   G.   Thurston. 

Asa  G.  Thurston,  our  oldest  son,  leaving  his  wife 
and  children  on  Hawaii,  went  to  Honolulu,  accompa- 
nied by  his  mother,  to  consult  a  physician  in  regard 
to  a  tumor  on  his  breast,  which  had  caused  excruci- 
ating pain  for  many  months.     He  lived  only  a  few 


13 


176  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

days,    dying    suddenly    of    what    the    physician    pro- 
nounced to  be  aneurism  of  the  great  aorta. 


Honolulu,  Dec.  20,  1859. 

My  dear  Husband  and  Daughter: 

My  mission  here  is  accomplished  and  I  am  ready 
to  return  to  my  lonejy  husband.  My  trunks  aie  in 
the  basement,  packed  ready  for  starting.  In  a  pleas- 
ant bedroom  stand  Asa's  trunk  and  saddlebags.  His 
boots,  his  hat,  his  all,  all  are  laid  aside.  His  earthly 
house  too,  is  taken  down,  and  treasured  in  a  sacred 
spot.  Mortality  has  been  swallowed  up  of  life.  To- 
gether we  walked  a  peaceful  pathway,  leading  to  an 
open  grave.  '.  But  it  lay  through  green  pastures,  and 
beside  still  waters.  For  a  week  and  a  half  before  he 
left  us,  his  soul  entered  into  rest  respecting  his  wife 
and  children.  With  full  confidence  he  could  trust 
them,  as  he  had  long  been  able  to  trust  himself,  to  a 
covenant-keeping  God.  After  that  I  saw  no  more 
tears. 

At  the  funeral  service,  Rev.  Mr.  Corwin,  a  former 
classmate,  returned  thanks  for  the  example  of  one  who 
had  come  into  this  community  to  teach  us  how  to  die. 
Men  of  the  world  said  they  would  give  all  they  pos- 
sessed could  they  thus  attain  the  serenity  of  soul  with 
which  Asa  Thurston  lived  in  hourly  expectation  of 
sudden  death. 

Renewedly  yours, 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


1859.  177 

Letter  addressed  by  Asa  to  his  parents,  written 
at  intervals,  in  great  weakness,  from  the  6th  to  the 
12th  of  December.     He  died  on  the  17th: — 

My  dear  Father  and  Mother: 

Standing  as  I  am  on  the  borders  of  the  eternal 
world,  still  an  inhabitant  of  earth,  yet  in  daily,  yes 
hourly  expectation  of  the  summons  that  will  call  me 
hence,  I  would  commend  to  your  parental  care  and 
kindness  the  wife  and  babes  I  leave  behind,  still  to 
toil  on  in  this  world  of  care  and  suffering.  Father ! 
Mother!  they  are  your  children,  the  loved  ones  of  your 
son.  Let  them  fill  in  your  affections  the  place  /  have 
filled,  and  share  in  the  benefactions  as  /  should  share. 
If  want  and  distress  should  overtake  them,  may  I  not 
ask  a  home  for  them  beneath  your  roof-tree?  It  is 
pleasant  to  me  to  think  of  my  sons  growing  up  under 
the  same  home  influences,  amid  the  same  scenes,  and 
under  the  same  holy  teaching  as  those  in  which  my 
own  infant  years  were  passed,  and  through  the  force 
of  which,  after  long  years  of  wandering,  I  was  at 
last  brought  back,  as  the  returning  prodigal,  to  ac- 
knowledge for  my  God,  my  Savior,  Him  to  whom, 
beneath  that  roof,  my  infant  lips  had  learned  to  lift 
the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise. 

Cherish  them,  dear  parents,  as  you  have  ever 
cherished  their  father.  Let  my  Sarah  ever  be  to  you 
as  a  daughter  beloved.  Through  six  years  of  wedded 
life,  in  sickness  and  in  health,  in  adversity  and  in  the 
full  tide  of  prosperity,  she  has  to  me  fully  realized 
the  anticipations  and  wishes,  the  hopes  and  desires  of 
our  joyous  and  happy  courtship.  She  is  eminently 
worthy  of  your  love,  none  even  of  your  well  loved 
daughters  more  so.  A  virtuous  woman,  her  value  is 
"far  above  rubies." 


178  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

I  am  satisfied  to  leave  them  all  in  the  hands  of  a 
prayer-hearing  God.  The  assurance  that  they  will  be 
provided  for,  robs  death  of  its  sting,  and  leaves  me 
joyfully  to  meet  the  summons  that  is  to  call  me  hence. 

And  now,  dear  parents,  farewell  for  a  brief  sea- 
son, until  we  meet  again  in  those  mansions  of  bliss, 
where  pain  and  sorrow  are  unknown,  where  with  the 
innumerable  company  of  angels  and  justified  spirits, 
we  shall  ever  dwell  in  the  presence  of  Him  with  whom 
is  fullness  of  joy,  amid  those  holy  pleasures  which 
shall  be  forever  more. 

Your  dying  son, 

Asa. 

ARTICLE    XII. 

Death  of  Two  Grand  Children. 

(My  daughter  Mary,  a  widow,  had  just  returned 
from  Illinois  to  Honolulu,  with  her  three  little  chil- 
dren, to  find  a  home  in  her  father's  house,  and  to  min- 
ister to  her  parents  in  their  declining  years.  Our  son 
Thomas,  having  finished  his  theological  course  in  New 
York,  returned  with  her.) 

Honolulu,  May  29,  1866. 

My  dear  Children  in  California: 

I  take  up  my  pen  to  speak  to  you  of  the  departed, 
and  will  first  mention  Ed.  He  reached  us  on  the  Sab- 
bath. Thursday  eve  he  had  an  attack  of  croup.  When 
the  doctor  came  Saturday  morning,  he  immediately 
and  freely  gave  his  views.  There  was  no  hope  of  his 
life.  It  would  terminate  in  a  few  hours.  The  mother 
uninterruptedly  ministered  to  her  dying  child,  "You 


1866.  179 

are  going  up  into  the  sky  to  the  Happy  Land,  where 
papa  is  and  where  God  is."  By  repeatedly  shaking 
his  head,  he  expressed  strong  aversion,  and  said, 
"Wiait  till  mother  goes."  His  mother  told  him  de- 
cidedly that  she  could  not  go  now ;  she  could  not  go 
till  God  called  her.  The  23rd  Psalm  was  read.  Your 
father  prayed.  Then  his  son.  Save  the  soul  of  the 
child.  Give  us  submission.  We  felt  that  both  peti- 
tions were  answered.  A  holy  calm  pervaded  the  room. 
Ed  looked  up  to  his  mother  and  asked:  "Is  Ed  going 
up  into  the  sky?"  She  replied,  "Yes,"  and  inquired, 
"Do  you  want  to  go?"  With  a  pleased  countenance, 
he  repeatedly  nodded  assent  so  sweetly,  so  fully ;  after- 
wards he  uttered  with  difficulty,  "Come  and  get  Ed." 
With  a  satisfied  air  he  then  turned  over,  laying  his 
little  hand  beneath  his  cheek.  In  fifteen  minutes  he 
had  ceased  to  breathe.  We  had  approached  very  near 
to  the  Savior;  we  had,  as  it  were,  laid  our  precious 
child  lovingly  and  trustingly  into  his  own  blessed  arms, 
to  be  borne  away  from  our  sight.  He  showed  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  gift,  by  giving  us  light  and  love,  con- 
solation and  strength. 

In  the  forenoon,  a  friend  rode  up  to  the  door  and 
inquired,  "Are  you  all  well  here?" 

"All  are  well.    Yet  death  has  entered  our  doors." 
"Ah !  has  the  old  gentleman  gone  ?" 
"Walk  into  the  parlor  and  see  what  has  befallen 
us.     Not  the  aged  with  grey  hairs  has  been  selected, 
but  the  child  of  five  years." 

The  funeral  was  attended  the  next  day,  Sabbath, 
just  one  week  from  the  day  of  their  arrival.  The  first 
line  of  the  piece  sung  was,  "There  is  a  reaper  whose 
name  is  Death."     Little   Mary   went   with  us  to  the 


180  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

cemetery.  She  enjoyed  the  ride,  and  was  interested 
in  the  scene  at  the  grave. 

That  evening  our  son  Thomas,  lately  arrived 
from  New  York,  preached  in  Fort  Street  Church. 
His  first  hymn  :  "And  let  this  feeble  body  fail."  Con- 
nected with  the  events  of  the  day,  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  read,  it  was  very  impressive.  His  text:  "And 
Jesus  himself  began  to  be  about  thirty  years  of  age." 
In  three  hours  from  the  time  that  we  stood  by  the 
first  opened  grave  of  a  grandchild,  we  were  listening 
for  the  first  time  to  the  preaching  6i  a  son,  for  whom 
we  had  been  laboring  thirty  years.  A  son !  qualified 
for  the  gospel  ministry.  It  is  enough.  A  grandchild ! 
gone  to  be  where  Jesus  is,  that  he  may  behold  his 
glory.     Amen. 

Little  Mary,  at  the  interesting  age  of  first  prat- 
tling infancy,  lived  and  moved  among  us  five  weeks. 
How  happy  she  was  in  independently  ranging  the 
yard  in  the  open  air!  How  delighted  in  visiting  the 
young  brood  of  yellow  chickens !  How  unsuccessful 
in  trying  to  turn  round  and  sit  down  on  a  moving 
tortoise !  How  satisfied  and  calm  in  planting  herself 
by  the  side  of  her  brother,  on  the  lap  of  our  mother 
earth ! 

She  was  attacked  with  a  hoarse,  hard  breathing, 
which  in  four  days  resulted  in  death.  When  we  un- 
mistakably read  the  call, — "Mary,  come  up  hither," 
— in  the  fullness  of  our  hearts  we  responded:  "Go, 
Mary,  to  thy  Savior."  Ed  was  the  only  one  in  the 
land  of  spirits  that  she  knew  on  earth.  In  one  short 
month,  as  we  count  time,  I  think  he  was  matured  and 
commissioned  to  come  a  ministering  spirit  to  his  little 
sister,  struggling  in  the  swellings  of  Jordan.     Such  is 


1866.  181 

the  love  of  a  good  shepherd  to  a  tender  lamb, — such 
the  consolation  given  to  our  stricken  hearts  under  be- 
reavement. Mary's  hands  and  feet  were  cold  as  death. 
She  was  leaning  against  her  mother,  sitting  in  an  erect 
position.  "Co,  co,  co,"  (cold),  she  many  times  re- 
peated, and  nestled  still  nearer  to  her  mother.  Sud- 
denly her  languid  eyes  became  animated  and  lustrous. 
She  looked  attentively  as  toward  some  object.  Her 
mother  asked :  "What  is  she  looking  at  ?"  and  turned 
around  her  head  to  see.  Little  Mary  spoke :  "Oh ! 
Ed !  Ed !  Ed !"  till  the  sound  of  her  voice  died  away 
with  her  failing  breath. 

The  funeral  was  at  four  the  next  afternoon.  Pre- 
viously little  Mary  rode  with  us  in  the  carriage  to  the 
grave.  She  still  rode  with  us,  but  in  her  coffin.  How 
much  more  soothing  than  to  place  a  loved  one  alone 
upon  the  black  hearse ! 

In  the  midst  of  our  crushed  hopes,  I  do  not  forget 
the  great  mercy  which  saved  them  from  the  dangers 
of  their  long  journey,  I  am  thankful  that  we  were 
permitted  to  see  the  faces  of  our  grandchildren,  and 
to  hold  communion  with  them  for  a  little  season. 
How  kind  the  arrangement,  that  they  were  permitted 
to  die  in  the  bosom  of  our  own  family,  and  find  a 
peaceful  rest  in  our  own  sepulchre !  I  rejoice  that  in 
the  counsels  of  heaven,  our  own  child  was  chosen  to 
give  being,  and  to  watch  over  the  earth-life  of  two 
immortal  beings,  lent  treasures,  to  be  transplanted, 
at  the  Master's  will,  to  a  higher  life.  Bless  the  Lord, 
O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless  his  holy 
name.  Your  Loving  Mother, 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


ARTICLE    XIII. 

Last    Days    of    Father    Thurston. 

Honolulu,  Dec.  8th,  1867. 
My  dear  Daughter  Persis: 

MANfY  times  of  late  we  have  thought  your  father's 
days  were  about  to  be  numbered.  First,  by  an 
attack  of  paralysis  (his  third  attack,)  affecting  speech 
and  intellect.  This  was  followed  from  day  to  day  with 
spasms  of  pain  at  the  heart,  sudden,  short,  severe.  He 
had  hardly  rallied,  when  a  gash  from  an  axe  on  his 
right  foot,  cutting  off  three  toes,  kept  him  on  his  back 
more  than  three  months.  I  now  know  that  I  have 
been  preserved  to  be  his  nurse  in  old  age.  I  never 
forget  that  he  may  be  cut  off  any  day ;  but  he  may  be 
continued  for  years.  The  grass  to  us  looks  green,  the 
flowers  beautiful.  They  speak  of  a  better  land  ever 
blooming. 

January  25th,  1868. 

Three  weeks  ago  to-day,  your  father  first  com- 
plained of  a  headache,  so  very  unusual  a  symptom, 
that  it  seemed  to  us  very  threatening.  The  second 
week,  in  addition  to  pain,  he  saw  shining,  glimmering 
appearances  lowered  from  the  upper  ceiling  and  drawn 
up  again.  The  third  week  he  suddenly  became  utterly 
unable  to  find  the  way  aright  from  one  room  to  an- 
other. Neither  can  he  at  any  time  tell  what  room  he 
is  in.     The  appearances  he  witnesses  in  space  seem 

182 


1868.  183 

sometimes  to  overwhelm  him.  He  sees  crowds  of 
men.  He  points  and  exclaims:  "Ke  aupuni,  Ke  au- 
puni" — the  Kingdom,  the  Kingdom.  He  is  completely 
enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  bewilderment.  Of  his  whole 
family  affairs,  explained  to  him,  he  says  decisively,  "I 
don't  know  anything  about  them." 

March  23,  1868. 

My  dear  Children  and  Grandchildren: 

I  write  to  tell  you  that  your  father  Thurston, 
your  grandfather  Thurston  has  entered  into  rest.  He 
died  March  11th,  aged  eighty  years  and  five  months. 
We  had  lived  together  forty-eight  years  and  five 
months.  His  reason  was  at  times  dethroned  during 
his  illness  of  nine  weeks.  He  forgot  almost  every- 
thing, even  his  own  wife  and  children.  But  in  the 
midst  of  all,  with  unvarying  constancy,  he  ever  shewed 
his  love  of  prayer.  The  last  two  days  of  his  life  he 
did  not  speak.  Tuesday  was  a  day  of  extreme  restless- 
ness. It  was  almost  as  much  as  one  could  do  to  ad- 
just his  bed-clothes,  so  weak  that  he  was  quite  unable 
to  turn  himself.  At  evening  he  lay  composed.  Two 
o'clock  came.  He  never  moved  after.  His  laborious 
breathing,  his  convulsive  movements,  his  clammy 
sweat  told  me  that  the  last  sands  of  his  life  were 
falling.  That  whole  night  I  lay  on  the  back  side  of 
the  bed,  unable  to  sit  up  from  extreme  prostration, 
Once  he  turned  his  head,  fixed  his  eyes  fully  upon 
me,  but  could  not  utter  a  syllable.  The  morning 
dawned.  A  sudden  change  took  place.  Its  language 
was,  "Behold  the  Bridegroom  cometh."  All  our 
household  came  at  once  around  the  bed  to  watch  the 
ebbing  way  of  life.  I  took  hold  of  his  arm  with  one 
hand,  and  placed  the  other  upon  his  forehead.     His 


184  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

serene  eyes   were   fixed  upon  mine.      I    repeated  the 
most  appropriate  hymns  I  know  in  our  language. 

"Rock  of  Ages,    cleft  for   me," 

and 

"Jesus,   Savior  of  my  soul." 

His  convulsions  had  ceased.  His  hard  respira- 
tions had  gradually  ended.  His  breathings  were 
shorter  and  shorter,  softer  and  softer,  till  they  be- 
came gentle  as  those  of  infancy.  Then  he  calmly 
closed  his  eyes,  and  gave  up  the  ghost.  It  was  eight 
o'clock. 

The  strongest  tie  that  bound  me  down  to  earth 
was  then  severed.  Standing  by  his  cold  remains,  how 
vividly  were  brought  to  mind  his  words,  spoken  be- 
neath a  father's  roof,  "You  shall  have  my  care  and 
love,  till  these  hands  and  this  heart  are  cold" !  Now 
I  am  written  a  widow,  having  the  promise  that  God 
will  be  my  husband. 

I  adore  that  power  and  love  which  formed  and 
watched  over  our  companionship  for  more  than  forty- 
eight  years,  and  for  the  great  privilege  allowed  me 
of  smoothing  his  rough  pathway  through  life,  even 
down  to  the  river's  brink.  May  his  fallen  mantle 
rest  on  me,  on  our  children,  on  our  children's  chil- 
dren, on  every  individual  of  our  posterity,  down  to 
the  latest  generation. 

From  your  bereaved  Mother, 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


ARTICLE    XIV. 

From    the    American    Church    Missionary    Register,    New    York,    Octo- 
ber,   1868. 

A    CYPRESS   BOUGH — BY   REV.    F.    S.    RISING. 

ON  the  11th  day  of  March.  1868,  in  the  city  of  Ho- 
nolulu, the  Rev.  Asa  Thurston  fell  asleep.  He 
closed  his  eyes  upon  the  bright  sunlight  of  his  dear 
Hawaii  nei,  and  the  celestial  glory  burst  upon  his 
sight.  He  laid  aside  the  staff  of  his  old  age  and 
grasped  the  unfading  crown  and  the  palm  of  victory. 
He  ceased  from  his  life  of  unintermitted  missionary 
labor,  and  went  hence  to  serve  his  Lord  day  and  night 
in  the  heavenly  temple.  Near  his  earthly  home  the 
ever-surging  Pacific,  emblem  of  eternity,  beat  upon 
the  shifting  sands.  Now  he  listens  to  the  dash  of 
the  endless  ages  at  the  feet  of  the  Ancient  of  Days. 
He  walks  no  longer  under  the  fierce  heat  of  the  trop- 
ical sun,  but  in  the  genial  warmth  and  blessed  light 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  As  he  is  parted  from 
our  gaze,  we  would  with  hearty  affection,  write  this 
memorial  of  him  as  one  who  glorified  his  divine 
Savior,  and  in  whom  the  grace  of  God  was  magnified. 
He  sailed  out  of  Boston  harbor  in  the  brig  Thad- 
deus  in  October,  1819.  His  face  was  set  toward  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  The  Duff  had  carried  the  Gospe! 
light  to  the  Society  group  in  the  South  Pacific ;  but 

185 


186  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

in  the  north  deep  darkness  brooded.  Out  of  it  rose 
the  death-cry  of  Cook.  Imagination  easily  sketched 
the  horrors  of  a  land  where  a  savage  club  laid  low  the 
English  navigator.  A  Hawaiian  lad,  brought  by  a 
sea-captain  to  New  Haven,  told  the  idolatry  of  his 
countrymen,  and  besought  some  to  hasten  thither  with 
the  good  news  of  God.  Hiram  Bingham,  Asa  Thurs- 
ton, and  five  laymen,  with  their  wives,  heard  this  boy's 
touching  appeal,  and  in  answer  girded  themselves  for 
their  grand  venture  of  faith.  Foreign  missions  were 
not  then  popular.  The  chilly  October  day,  when  the 
sails  of  the  Thaddeus  were  unfurled,  typified  the  cold- 
ness of  the  Christian  heart  toward  the  heathen  world. 
But  these  pioneers  were  born  heroes.  Thurston,  by 
his  physical  strength  and  courage,  had  won,  years 
before,  at  Yale  college,  the  much  prized  staff  of 
"bully."  With  a  moral  courage  and  strength  more 
sublime,  he  and  his  companions  kissed  their  brides, 
and  led  them  from  the  hymeneal  altar  to  dwell  in 
mid-ocean  amid  savage  islanders.  Our  hearts  beat 
quick  as  we  recall  the  heroism  of  those  young  men 
and  women  putting  America  behind  them  to  win  a 
nation  for  Christ.  The  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions  sent  them  out.  For  the 
results  of  their  work  the  Lord  be  praised ! 

It  was  Thurston's  lot  to  labor  at  Kailua,  on  the 
island  of  Hawaii.  What  a  parish  for  a  novice  to 
handle !  It  was  a  filthy  village  of  thatched  huts,  built 
upon  beds  of  indurated  lava,  on  which  the  fervent 
sun  poured  his  furnace  heat  every  day  in  every  year. 
It  nestled  amid  a  grove  of  cocoanut  trees,  and  reached 
down  to  the  shore,  whither  came  rolling  in  the  white- 
crested    billows.      Behind    it    rose   the    lofty   volcanic 


1868.  187 

peak  of  Hualalai.  Standing  at  its  base  one  could  trace 
the  perennial  g'reen  of  the  forests  reaching  nigh  unto 
the  summit,  deeply  scored  with  hideous  black  tracks 
of  lava  reaching  unto  the  sea. 

The  luxuriant  foliage  hid  from  distant  view  gap- 
ing fissures,  thirty-nine  extinct  craters,  the  grim  ruins 
of  the  temple  of  Umi,  and  other  tokens  of  wild  deso- 
lation. Further  down  the  coast  rose  the  loftier  peaks 
of  Mauna  Loa  and  Mauna  Kea,  13,000  feet  high, 
snow-capped,  fierce  fires  within,  and  now  and  then 
breaking  out  with  quakings,  roarings,  mighty  rustl- 
ings, and  terrific  hissings,  as  the  lava  threw  itself  red- 
hot  into  the  sea.  Very  solemn  to  dwell  in  such  a  land 
with  these  volcanoes  ever  in  sight ! 

Then  Kailua  was,  at  the  time  of  Thurston's  land- 
ing, the  residence  of  the  king.  He  was  a  profligate, 
and  the  royal  city  was  the  fountain  of  the  kingdom's 
pollution.  Here  the  tabu  had  been  broken  and  the  idols 
destroyed,  that  there  might  be  no  check  to  iniquity. 
The  ruins  of  heathen  temples  were  everywhere  about, 
heart-sickening  to  behold,  and  heathen  vices  were  en- 
throned in  every  hut  and  stalked  abroad  in  every  vil- 
lage. Men,  women  and  children  were  like  the  volca- 
noes. Raging  fires  of  wickedness  within  broke  out 
ever  in  desolating  flows.  In  a  thatched  hut  in  the 
midst  of  this  physical  desolateness  and  moral  degra- 
dation, Thurston  and  his  wife  found  their  earliest 
Hawaiian  home.  Amid  such  scenes  their  first-born 
came  to  them.  Here  the  Gospel  was  first  preached 
for  the  regeneration  of  Hawaii  nei  and  the  salvation 
of  many  thousand  souls. 

When  nearly  half  a  century  had  passed,  partial 
paralysis  compelled  the  heroic  Thurston  to  rest  from 


188  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

his  toil.  He  was  no  longer  young.  His  locks  were 
gray,  and  grandchildren  made  more  happy  his  home. 
During  this  long  period  he  did  not  once  leave  the  Isl- 
ands. Others  came  and  went,  but  he  remained  the 
tireless  evangelist.  Tropical  heat  did  not  abate  his 
vigor.  Long  journeys  on  foot  over  lava  tracts  did 
not  exhaust  his  strength.  The  hardness  and  wicked- 
ness of  the  heathen  heart  did  not  discourage  him. 
Preaching  in  season  and  out  of  season  did  not  weary 
him.  The  love  of  Christ  constrained  him,  and  he  did 
not  pause  in  his  labor  until  his  body  cried  out,  "It  is 
enough." 

During  these  fifty  years  he  bore  an  active  part 
in  all  the  remarkable  changes  which  God  wrought 
among  the  Hawaiians.  The  king  and  the  common 
people  alike  felt  his  influence.  His  huge  church- 
building  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  royal  residence 
attested  this.  When  the  capital  was  removed  to  Ho- 
nolulu, he  did  not  follow  the  king,  but  the  common 
people  still  heard  him  gladly.  We  can  imagine  the 
grateful  joy  of  his  soul  as,  year  by  year,  he  saw  the 
heathen  people  become  Christian  and  the  absolute 
despotism  changed  into  a  constitutional  monarchy. 

It  was  our  privilege  to  spend  a  few  days  under 
his  hospitable  roof  after  paralysis  had  disabled  him. 
We  cannot  soon  forget  his  venerable  form,  crowned 
with  flowing  silver  locks,  his  gentle,  modest  spirit, 
his  earnestness  of  soul,  his  simple  faith,  his  calm  ex- 
pectation of  the  future.  The  king  might  well  bow 
before  him,  and  the  young  do  him  reverence,  as  one 
of  the  fathers  of  the  kingdom.  When  he  landed,  Ka- 
mehameha  II.  was  a  half-clad  savage,  dwelling  in  a 
filthy  hut,  rioting  in  degradation.  When  he  went 
hence  Kamehameha  V.  resided  in  a  stone  palace  with- 


1868.  189 

in  sound  of  the  church-going  bell,  with  every  appli- 
ance of  modern  civilization  and  Christianity  about 
him.  Let  unbelieving  and  half-hearted  men  sneer  at 
Foreign  Missions,  if  they  will.  One  life  like  that 
of  Asa  Thurston,  so  sublime,  so  self-sacrificing,  so 
successful,  far  outshines  any  diamond  that  they  can 
bring  from  their  mines. 

After  paralysis  came  upon  him,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia in  quest  of  health.  There,  though  nearly  eighty 
years  of  age,  he  first  saw  a  railroad  and  telegraph. 
The  world  had  been  busy  with  its  inventions  while 
he  was  absorbed  in  his  chosen  work.  When  he  re- 
turned to  Honolulu,  to  await  the  Lord's  summons, 
he  must  have  mused  upon  the  superior  facility  for 
missionary  work  which  the  Lord  gives  in  our  day. 

Young  men,  ponder  the  life  of  Asa  Thurston. 
Emulate  his  faith  and  zeal.  Unnumbered  millions  call 
to  you  for  the  bread  of  life.  The  Gospel  is  in  your 
hands  as  a  power.  Go  forth  and  wield  it  in  the  midst 
of  the  nations. 

We  may  be  pardoned  one  word  of  reference  to 
Asa  Thurston's  widow.  She  shared  his  trials,  went 
with  him  in  his  long  missionary  tours  on  foot,  and 
equaled  him  in  heroism.  She  taught  the  Hawaiian 
men  to  love  their  wives  and  their  Savior ;  the  Hawai- 
ian women  to  fear  God  and  honor  their  husbands ; 
the  Hawaiian  children  to  obey  the  Lord  and  their 
parents.  So  she  carried  into  the  huts  of  that  dark  land 
those  blessed  words  —  Love,  Virtue,  Home,  Jesus, 
Heaven.  Many  an  Hawaiian  household  to-day  blesses 
God  for  the  gifts  sent  by  her.  She  now  awaits  her 
Lord's  call,  and  we  may  have  ventured  upon  her  re- 
tirement that  we  may  appeal  to  mothers,  wives  and 


190  Life  of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

sisters  to  show  forth  such  missionary  spirit  as  hers. 
Christian  women!  do  not  keep  back  your  husbands, 
brothers  and  sons.  Do  not  stay  at  home  yourselves. 
Make  speed  to  fill  the  world  with  the  glory  of  Em- 
manuel. 


ARTICLE    XV. 
FUNERAL    ADDRESS, 

DELIVERED  MARCH  12TH,  1868,  BY  REV.  ELI  CORWIN, 
ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  REV.  ASA 
THURSTON,  ONE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PIONEER  MIS- 
SIONARIES   TO    THE    HAWAIIAN    ISLANDS. 

"The  hoary  head  is  a  crown  of  glory,  if  it  be  found  in  the  way  of 
righteousness." — Prov.    xvi:31. 

NO  ordinary  event  is  that  which  calls  us  together 
in  solemn  assembly  to-day.  Two  races  unite  to 
pay  a  grateful  tribute  of  respect  to  the  departed  patri- 
arch of  a  mission  which  has  been  the  best  gift  of  the 
one  race  to  the  other.  Forty-eight  years  ago  this 
very  month,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1820,  the  deceased 
reached  the  shores  of  Hawaii  with  the  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries sent  out  by  the  American  Board  to  evan- 
gelize these  then  benighted  and  barbarous  islands. 
This  day  of  his  burial  is  just  one  month  less  than 
forty-eight  years  from  the  day  when  he  and  the  still 
surviving  companion  of  his  earthly  pilgrimage  (who 
has  cared  for  him  so  tenderly  during  the  closing  years 
of  his  life)  were  stationed  at  Kailua,  the  ancient  resi- 


REV.  ASA  AND  LUCY  GOODALE  THURSTON 
A  daguerreotype  taken  about  1868 


1868.  191 

dence  of  the  Hawaiian  kings.  And  there  for  more  than 
forty  years,  he  continued  to  reside  and  to  labor  as  the 
honored  pastor  of  a  large  and  very  important  parish. 

The  instructor,  for  a  time,  of  both  Kamehameha 
II.  and  Kamehameha  III.,  his  influence  upon  the  con- 
duct and  disposition,  especially  of  the  latter,  must  hav/» 
been  very  great,  at  a  period  in  Hawaiian  history  when 
it  was  most  important  to  secure  the  good  will  of  those 
highest  in  authority,  and  when  the  word  of  the  king 
was  law  and  his  will  was  absolute.  But,  as  is  ever 
the  case  with  the  faithful  minister,  his  influence  was 
greatest  and  his  usefulness  most  apparent  among  the 
masses  of  the  common  people.  Never  once  leaving  the 
Islands  for  forty  years,  he  was  honored  of  natives 
and  foreigners  alike  as  a  faithful,  patient,  persistent 
worker,  steadfast,  and  abiding  in  one  stay  far  beyond 
the  ordinary  duration  of  missionary  life.  Indeed  I 
know  not  that  in  the  entire  history  of  missions  a  like 
instance  is  recorded  of  one  remaining  so  long  upon 
the  field  and  at  a  single  post,  during  the  life-time  of 
a  whole  generation,  without  revisiting  the  home  of 
his  childhood  or  visiting  any  other  land.  Only  when 
advancing  age  and  repeated  strokes"  of  paralysis  had 
rendered  him  incapable  of  service ;  only  when  his 
strong  hand  had  lost  its  cunning  and  his  tongue  had 
begun  to  give  a  doubtful  utterance,  did  he  consent 
to  resign  his  pastorate  at  Kailua  that  he  might  spend 
the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  this  city. 

Here  how  beautiful  the  evening  time  of  his  life! 
What  a  privilege  to  us  and  to  our  children  to  have 
before  us  that  venerable  form  and  that  benignant 
countenance,  a  perfect  picture  of  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets   of   olden   times   not   soon   effaced   from   the 


14 


192  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

memory !  Infancy  with  its  budding  beauty  and  its 
fragrance  of  a  new  life  is  lovely  in  its  gentleness  and 
innocence.  Youth  with  its  vigor  of  ripening  ambi- 
tions and  maturing  powers  is  interesting  indeed ;  but 
no  sight  on  earth  is  more  impressive  than  a  beautiful 
old  age. 

In  his  case  the  outward  appearance  was  but  the 
truthful  expression  of  the  inward  life ;  a  calm  and 
undisturbed  repose  of  faith ;  a  rest  in  Jesus  which 
knew  no  solicitude ;  a  sublime  quietude  of  soul  which 
felt  no  fear.  The  hoary  head  is  indeed  a  crown  of 
glory,  if  it  be  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness. 
But  he  died  not  of  old  age.  With  marvelous  physical 
powers,  perhaps  unsurpassed  in  his  day  by  those  of 
any  other  resident  upon  these  Islands,  whether  native 
or  foreigner,  he  might  but  for  the  attacks  of  disease, 
have  survived  a  century.  The  brain  and  nervous  sys- 
tem were  first  to  give  way,  before  his  hearing  was 
impaired,  his  eye  became  dim,  or  his  natural  force 
abated.  That  well  compacted  and  well  proportioned 
frame  seemed  too  strong  to  be  torn  down  even  when 
the  mind  had  ceased  to  maintain  a  logical  succession 
of  thoughts,  and  his  conversation,  a  strange  mixture 
of  Hawaiian,  English  and  Latin,  had  for  the  most  part 
ceased  to  be  coherent. 

Those  of  us  who  were  permitted  to  visit  him  near 
the  close  of  life  cannot  soon  forget  those  more  lucid 
intervals  when  for  a  little  the  soul  reasserted  its  power 
over  the  tongue,  and  with  indescribable  pathos  and 
earnestness  he  exclaimed,  "My  love  for  Jesus  is  verv 
great."  Nor  can  I  soon  forget  that  responsive  smile 
with  which  he  gave  assent  to  what  was  said  of  the 
preciousness  of  Christ  to  the  believer's  soul,  when  his 


1868.  193 

tongue  could  no  longer  give  utterance  to  his  thoughts, 
and  his  eyes  were  already  glassy  with  the  film  of  death. 

Governed  by  principles,  and  not  by  impulse,  in 
his  habits  of  devotion,  he  persisted  in  leading  at  family 
prayers  as  a  priest  in  his  own  household,  till  he  could 
no  longer  frame  sentences  correctly;  and  after  that 
to  the  last  day  of  his  life,  nothing  made  him  more 
restless  and  uneasy  than  the  omission  of  the  regular 
family  devotions  at  the  appointed  hour,  nor  did  any- 
thing soothe  and  comfort  him  so  much  as  prayer. 

Though  remarkably  taciturn  all  through  life,  yet 
he  was  hardly  less  remarkable  for  a  quiet  humor  which 
was  kept  in  subjection  to  his  Christian  dignity,  while 
it  did  much  to  make  him  agreeable  in  social  life,  and 
to  make  him  buoyant  in  spirit  under  all  the  trials  of 
missionary  labor.  And  this  cheerful  temper  and  Chris- 
tian mirthfulness  characterized  him  to  the  last.  No 
pleasantry  was  lost  upon  him  even  when  his  memory 
of  the  past  became  a  blank,  and  he  could  not  recog- 
nize his  family  or  his  friends. 

His  peculiarly  rich  and  well  trained  voice,  even 
when  age  had  somewhat  shattered  it,  gave  forth  at 
times  such  tones  as  made  it  a  feast  of  melody  to  my 
ear  to  have  him  seated  for  years  close  at  my  right  hand 
in  the  sanctuary.  Neither  the  choir  nor  the  congre- 
gation were  ever  disturbed  by  his  singing  out  of  time 
or  out  of  tune,  while  the  general  effect  of  congrega- 
tional singing  was  greatly  improved  by  that  remark- 
able voice  of  manly  power,  yet  of  womanly  sweetness, 
to  which  we  shall  listen,  in  the  service  of  song,  never- 
more. Alas,  one  more  praying  voice  is  silenced,  one 
more  loving  heart  is  cold,  one  more   tongue  so  elo- 


194  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

quent  in  praise  is  still !  But  though  the  organs  of 
utterance  fail  to  communicate  his  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings to  mortal  ears,  who  can  tell  the  higher  blessed- 
ness of  that  intimate  communion  he  holds  with  Him 
who  planted  the  ear  and  who  knows  our  thoughts 
before  we  utter  them?  That  powerful  frame,  that 
manly  form,  is  shut  up  within  the  narrow  house  of 
Death,  but  his  freed  spirit  is  not  holden  of  his  domin- 
ion. The  weary  body  rests,  but  the  soul  has  entered 
upon  a  career  of  higher  and  holier  activity.  That 
hoary  head  shall  soon  be  a  buried  crown ;  but  how  far 
are  its  beauty  and  excellence  transcended  by  that 
crown  of  glory  which  he  wears  who  already  reigns 
with  Christ,  consecrated  a  king  and  a  priest  unto  God. 
And  there  are  stars  in  that  crown.  How  many  already 
garnered  in  glory,  while  ascribing  all  the  honor  to 
Christ,  the  sin  atoning  Lamb,  have  occasion  to  wel- 
come him  with  peculiar  joy  as,  under  Christ,  the 
faithful  shepherd  and  bishop  of  their  souls.  What  a 
debt  of  gratitude  does  the  vast  congregation  worship- 
ing in  this  sanctuary  owe  to  the  God  of  all  grace  for 
the  services  of  the  departed !  Their  beloved  pastor, 
whose  absence  to-day  is  so  much  regretted,  could 
speak  eloquently  to  his  people  of  his  personal  indebt- 
edness to  him  whom  he  greatly  honored  and  tenderly 
loved  as  a  spiritual  father.  For  it  was  to  the  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  a  sermon  preached  by  Father  Thurs- 
ton that  he  ascribed  that  personal  interest  in  religion 
which  resulted  in  his  conversion.  So  in  the  life  of  the 
deceased  reproduced  not  only  in  the  missionary  life 
of  his  own  son  laboring  upon  another  island  of  this 
group,  nor  yet  alone  in  the  lives  of  many  natives  still 
living  who  mourn  for  him  as  for  a  father,  but  with 
redoubled  power  and  energy  is  it  reproduced  in  the 


1868.  195 

ministry  of  him  who  now  occupies  a  central  position 
of  influence  as  pastor  of  the  great  congregation  ac- 
customed to  worship  here. 

The  materials  are  wanting  for  a  complete  record 
of  the  life  of  the  deceased,  but  his  record  is  on  high. 
And  what  a  life  as  it  is  recorded  there,  and  as  God 
and  angels  contemplate  it !  What  a  life  of  honor  and 
usefulness  as  even  we  are  permitted  to  see  it!  What 
an  encouragement  to  the  pioneers  of  Christian  mis- 
sions who  go  forth  to  the  waste  places  of  the  earth 
to  plant  the  standard  of  the  cross  among  the  barbarous 
tribes,  the  thought  that  they  too  may  be  permitted  to 
witness  the  fruit  of  their  toil  in  a  renovated  nation, 
in  a  converted  people,  in  a  heathen  tribe  liberated  and 
lifted  up  by  the  power  of  the  gospel !  What  a  life 
devoted  to  the  temporal  and  eternal  well-being  of 
thousands  upon  thousands  who  have  lived  and  died 
under  his  honored  ministry !  What  a  life,  compassing 
in  its  span  the  entire  history  of  Christian  civilization 
in  these  islands  of  the  sea ! 

Yet  what  is  this  to  that  unending  life  of  glory 
and  blessedness  upon  which  he  has  entered?  The 
days  of  the  years  of  his  pilgrimage  have  been  four 
score  years ;  but  that  heavenly  life  is  measured  by 
larger  cycles,  and  its  successive  periods  shall  be  made 
more  and  more  illustrious  by  yet  higher  joys  and 
more  distinguished  services.  Heaven  is  not  mere  re- 
ception of  knowledge  and  absorption  of  bliss;  it  is 
holiness  in  action.  There  is  fulness  of  joy,  because 
perfection  of  love.  There  are  pleasures  forevermore, 
because  spiritual  employments  in  which  the  soul  can 
never  grow  weary.  W'ith  renewed  zeal  and  untiring 
patience  let  us  labor,  that  we  too  may  see  the  fruit 
of  our  toil,  and  win  at  least  the  welcome  plaudit, 
"Well  done  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou 
into   the  joy  of  thy   Lord." 


ARTICLE    XVI. 

To  Rev.  Mr.   i3isse.ll,    l'nstor  of  Fort   Street   Church,    and  to  the  members 
of   Fort    Street   Church. 

Honolulu,  Sept.  29th,  1869. 

IN  1819  a  church  of  seventeen  members  was  formed 
in  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  prominently  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Worcester,  first  secretary  to  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
That  church  was  organized  to  be  transplanted  to  the 
then  far  off,  unlettered,  and  heathen  islands  of  "Owhy- 
hee."  I  was  one  of  the  members  of  that  church.  Mr. 
Thurston  was  one  of  its  pastors.  Thus  it  was  that 
he  became  my  pastor.  I  dwelt  beneath  his  shadow, 
lived  in  his  strength,  experienced  his  watch  and  care 
and  priestly  offices,  during"  a  pilgrimage  of  forty-eight 
years.  Then,  from  my  heart  went  up  the  wail.  "My 
father,  my  father,  the  chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  horse- 
men thereof." 

The  last  original  pastor  of  that  transplanted 
church,  known  by  the  name  of  the  "Old  Mission 
Church,"  had  now  passed  away.  After  that  event, 
at  the  first  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  this 
church,  I  awoke  to  the  consciousness  that  I  stood 
alone.  To  me  there  was  now  no  head,  no  nucleus, 
no  inclosure.  For  months  my  heart  has  yearned  to 
be  in  the  bosom  of  a  church  of  Christ,  and  to  renew 
covenant   relation  with  his  people. 

All  unworthy  as  I  am,  will  you  receive  me  into 
this  fold — that  I  may  thereby  gain  consolation  and 
strength,  the  intimacy  of  fellowship  and  love,  and  be 
found,  even  unto  the  end,  walking  in  all  the  command- 
ments and  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless  ? 

Lucy  G.  Thurstox. 

196 


FART  THIRD 


HAWAIIAN    JUBILEE REMINISCENCES    FOR    THE 

OCCASION. 

1870. 

ARTICLE    I. 

Extracts   from   Utters,    explaining   the   Origin   of    these   Articles,    etc. 

I  HAVE  been  writing  reminiscences  of  life  fifty 
years  ago.  A  vote  of  the  Hawaiian  Board  last 
year  invited  the  pioneers  to  the  work.  So  far  as  I 
was  concerned,  1  heard  of  it,  with  perfect  indiffer- 
ence. Mr.  Bingham,  who  had  been  several  years  in 
America,  was  invited,  and  expected  to  come  out,  and 
would  be  all  sufficient,  but  he  died.  Here  was  Mrs. 
Whitney  and  myself.  She  was  suffering  and  very 
weak.    One  of  the  leaders  of  the  Mission  came  to  me. 

"Can  you  write  a  little  without  injury  to  your- 
self?    Describe  the  day  you  came  ashore." 

"That  was  too  barren  of  incident  to  be  interest- 
ing.    There  should  be  a  wider  view  taken." 

"Well,  just  as  you  please :  do  it  your  own  way." 

I  took  my  pen  reluctantly.  It  was  hard  work  to 
make  a  beginning'.  When  I  did  begin,  it  was  to  de- 
scribe events  two  years  after  being  here.  Gradually 
I  came  into  the  work,  with  my  whole  heart,  of  re- 
viewing and  describing  those  early  days.  I  then  wrote 
to  the  Members  of  the  Hawaiian  Board. 

197 


198  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

Fathers. — I  speak  as  unto  wise  men  ;  judge  ye 
what  I  say.  I  have  taken  for  my  motto,  "She  hath 
done  what  she  couid."  By  spending  months  oblivious 
of  1870,  by  deep  and  long  silence,  solitude,  and  con- 
templation, together  with  the  aid  of  old  journals,  I 
have  written  two  documents. 

The  first  embraces  Hawaiian  and  Xew  England 
scenes,  as  taking  place  simultaneously ;  the  position 
and  prospects  of  the  Missionaries  during  a  voyage 
of  more  than  five  months  ;  the  first  appearance  of  a 
heathen  nation ;  their  incipient  approaches  to  better 
things,  and  the  comforts  and  struggles  of  pioneer 
misionary  life. 

The  second  contains  anecdotes,  sketches  or  tales, 
illustrative  of  social  life,  of  native  and  foreign  char- 
acter, as  exhibited  some  fifty  years  ago  and  there- 
abouts. 

Over  this  review  of  the  past  scenes  in  my  deep 
seclusion,  many  tears  have  been  shed  by  eyes  that 
have  been  trained  not  to  weep.  Then  I  have  exer- 
cised entire  self-control  while  I  read  my  sketches  for 
criticism. 

In  passing  I  would  say,  I  have  no  manuscript  to 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  future  secretary  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Evangelical  Society,  to  be  read  by  him, 
and  then  pass  into  its  archives. 

Forgive  me ;  but  these  two  documents  are  twin 
sisters,  children  of  my  old  age,  and  I  consider  them 
exclusively  my  own.  Yet  I  am  ready  to  say,  "He 
that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear."  Will  not  that 
suffice  ? 

After  being  shut  up  to  my  own  aspirations,  a 
knowledge  that  they  met  the  favors  of  my  sons  and 
daughters,  did  my  whole  being  good,  even  though 
nothing  should  come  of   it. 

In  order  to  action,  I  await  your  approval  in  the 


1870.  199 

language  of  the  one  who  induced  me  to  write  these 
reminiscences,  "Just  as  you  please.  Do  it  your  own 
way." 

Respectfully  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Hawaiian  Board. 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 

[Hitherto  it  had  not  been  encouraged  to  have 
woman's  voice  heard  in  a  promiscuous  meeting.  But 
when  the  Hawaiian  Board  was  asked  permission  for 
me  to  give  a  public  reading,  every  liberty  was  respect- 
fully granted. 

A  part  of  these  manuscripts  written  in  1870,  were 
not  publicly  read.  Some  that  were  read,  I  have  ar- 
ranged in  their  historical  order  in  another  part  of  the 
book.] 

ARTICLE    II. 

Notice  of  First  Public  Reading. 

HAVING  been  sustained  and  blessed  in  this  the 
land  of  her  adoption  for  fifty  years,  and  being 
still  allowed  to  measure  off  days  and  nights,  fringed 
with  light  and  peace, 

MRS.  THURSTON. 
As  a  Tribute  of  Thanksgiving, 

proposes  to  give  a  Public  Reading  of  Reminiscences 
of  Fifty  Years  ago  and  thereabouts. 

All,  who  dwell  on  the  soil  and  breathe  the  air  of 
Hawaii,  understanding  the  English  language,  are  em- 
braced in  her  sympathies,  and  are  affectionately  in- 
vited to  come  within  the  sound  of  her  voice,  on  this 
the  occasion  of  our  Nation's  Jubilee. 

The  Reading  will  take  place  Monday  P.  M.,  7l/2 
o'clock,  June   13,  at  Fort  St.  Church. 


ARTICLE    III. 

Preamble. 

OUR  eyes  were  turned  on  Mr.  Bingham,  who,  in 
1820,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  missionaries  to 
this  nation.  He  was  invited  to  come  out  from  the 
Eastern  States,  and  would  have  become  a  pioneer 
mouthpiece  at  this  semi-centennial  meeting.  But  the 
Master  said,  "Come  up  hither." 

The  fact  then  stood  before  me,  there  is  no  man 
here  to  remember,  and  repeat  the  A  B  C  of  the  mis- 
sion. 

Yielding  to  official  advice,  so  tenderly  urged,  I 
most  reluctantly  addressed  myself  to  the  work  of 
sketching  scenes  of  the  past  to  spread  before  the  pres- 
ent generation. 

Wlith  the  aid  of  old  journals  I  was  enabled  to 
look  through  the   long  vista  of  fifty  years.     I   went 

back,   back back   to    Old   Times,   and   there  alone 

long  tarried.  When  I  returned,  it  was  with  the  strong 
desire  of  speaking  to  my  familiar  and  sympathizing 
friends,  to  those  who  dwell  on  the  same  soil  upon 
which  I  labored  with  those,  who  in  troublous  times, 
laid  the  foundations  of  generations. 

I  have  not  here  many  brothers  and  sisters.  x\ll 
below  fifty-five,   I  consider  my  children. 

I  come,  then,  in  the  character  of  a  mother,  ad- 
dressing my  children,  speaking  to  them  of  by-gone 
days. 


200 


ARTICLE    IV. 

The    National    Mourning    for    Kamehanieha,    and    the    Distinguished    and 
Honored   Foreign   Resident. 

THE  morning  after  the  death  of  Kamehanieha  I, 
their  usual  national  mourning,  for  the  death  of 
a  great  chief,  commenced.  They  went  upon  the  idea 
that  their  grief  was  so  great,  that  they  knew  not  what 
they  did.  They  were  let  thoroughly  loose,  without 
law  or  restraint,  and  so  gave  themselves  up  to  every 
evil,  that  they  acted  more  like  demons  incarnate,  than 
like  human  beings.  Without  any  shield,  rank  and 
sex  were  upon  a  level  with  the  meanest  and  most  out- 
rageous of  the  populace.  Their  grass-thatched  cot- 
.  tages  were  left  empty ;  their  last  vestige  of  clothing 
thrown  aside ;  and  such  scenes  of  wholesale  and  frantic 
excesses  exhibited  in  the  open  face  of  day,  as  would 
makes  darkness  pale.  A  tornado  swept  over  the  na- 
tion, making  it  drunk  with  abominations.  These  then 
dark  outskirts  of  creation  were  left,  in  that  one  par- 
ticular, to  work  out  and  reach  the  highest  heights. 
and  the  deepest  depths  of  heathenism  that  earth  has 
ever  seen.  It  was  among  their  more  decent  and  in- 
nocent extravagances,  that  they  burned  their  faces 
with  fire,  in  large,  permanent,  semi-circular  figures, 
and  with  stones  knocked  out  their  front  teeth. 

There  was  at  that  time,  a  foreign  resident,  who 
had  dwelt  some  thirty  years  at  the  Islands.  He  had 
a  family  of  children,  all  of  them  in  the  bloom  of  youth. 
"One  of  them  incidentally  remarked,  that,  as  a  thing 
„  of  course,  they  should  attend  that  public  mourning 
for  Kamehameha.  The  father  immediately  replied: 
"If  my  children  do  attend,  they  will  never  again  cross 

201 


202  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

the  threshold  of  my  house."  So  he  nailed  up  every 
avenue  to  his  dwelling-,  and  sat  with  his  native  wife 
and  five  children,  without  the  light  of  the  sun  dur- 
ing those  days  of  riot. 

He  had  all  along  been  a  rare  example  in  that 
degenerate  age,  of  building  a  hedge  about  his  family, 
and  standing  in  the  gap  thereof.  When  occasion  of- 
fered, he  spoke  with  energy  and  decision,  giving  a 
certain  sound  well  understood  by  his  children  and  by 
strangers. 

By  marriage,  by  deeds  and  by  counsel,  he  had 
justly  risen  to  the  eminence  of  becoming  a  peer  with 
the  first  chiefs  of  the  nation.  Saxon  blood  flowed  in 
his  veins.  He  was  Mr.  Young,  the  noble  grandfather 
of  our  most  noble  Oueen  Emma. 


ARTICLE    V. 

Infanticide. 

QOMETIME  near  the  year  1800,  an  infant  daugh- 
^  ter  was  born  into  the  Hawaiian  nation.  It  had 
no  sooner  crossed  the  threshold  of  life,  than  its  own 
mother  adopted  the  heathen  practice  which  filled  the 
land,  of  hastening  to  lay  it  in  a  pit-hole  and  conceal- 
ing it  from  the  light  of  day. 

After  passing  through  the  scenes  of  birth  and 
burial,  the  heathen  mother  sat  down  to  rest.  Soon 
a  friend  came  along,  who  deeply  regretted  that  the. 
child  had  been  buried,  as  she  would  have  become  its 
nurse,  and  she  hastened  to  ascertain  the  true  state 
of  things.  In  uncovering  the  loosely  made  deposit, 
she  came  to  a  large  piece  of  lava  so  suspended  at  both 
ends   as   to  prevent   its   coming   down   with   crushing 


1870.  203 

weight  on  the  body.  Quickly  removing  it,  the  little 
thing  appeared  on  its  knees  and  arms.  And  the  babe 
wept.  Her  arms  gave  a  welcome  to  the  forlorn 
stranger.  She  took  it  to  her  home,  and  reared  it 
with  love  to  a  mature  childhood,  then  returned  it  to 
its  mother.  In  the  meantime,  the  child  had  learned 
the  history  of  its  dawning  life.  So  when  her  mother 
requested  her  to  do  a  thing  she  had  a  quick  reply. 
"At  my  birth  you  had  no  love  for  me;  I  will  not 
obey  you." 

She  lived  to  become  an  idolater,  and  to  feel  the 
iron  laws  of  kapu,  to  woman  cold  and  cruel  as  the 
grave. 

She  lived  to  see  the  idols  all  swept  away,  and 
woman,  in  a  good  degree,  restored  to  social  privileges. 

She  lived  to  see  a  new  era  dawn  upon  the  nation, 
by  having  the  revelation  of  God  to  man  reach  them, 
to  whom  it  was  alike  addressed  with  the  rest  of  our 
races. 

She  lived  to  show  that  she  possessed  talents,  which 
Church  of  Christ,  to  become  an  help-meet  for  a  deacon, 
who  for  more  than  forty  years  has  been  a  presiding 
officer,  and  one  of  the  most  substantial  pillars  of  the 
Hawaiian  Church. 

She  lived  to  show  that  she  possessed  talents,  which 
with  culture,  would  have  adorned  any  society  in  any 
nation. 

She  died,  making  a  great  vacancy  on  earth,  that 
she  might  fill  a  higher  place  in  heaven. 


ARTICLE    VI. 

The  Five  Daughters. 

THERE  was  a  family  of  five  daughters,  between 
the  ages  of  twelve  and  twenty,  who  early  became 
members  of  the  Mission  School.  Saxon  blood  flowed 
into  their  veins.  By  becoming  instructed,  they  be- 
came more  intelligent,  more  attractive  and  more 
sought  after  by  the  cultivated  and  refined.  In  their 
generation  they  were  the  leading  characters  of  the 
day.  Rising  into  life  within  a  new  era,  and  thor- 
oughly instructed  in  a  new  system  of  morals,  they 
put  forth  the  tender  leaves  of  hope.  Alas,  alas,  for 
vines  that  have  no  hedges !  The  boar  out  of  the  wood 
doth  waste  them,  and  the  wild  beast  of  the  field  doth 
devour  them !  Paternal  authority,  secured  by  wealthy 
influences,  was  as  the  east  wind  in  the  day  of  the 
strong  wind,  to  sweep  away  all  that  was  sacred.  I 
could  tell  facts  respecting  their  young  lives,  that 
would  cause  the  ears  to  tingle.  But  I  pass  over  those 
never-to-be- forgotten  memories,  briefly  alluding  to  the 
eldest  sister,  who  in  age,  had  attained  independent 
action. 

She  was  more  mature  and  meditative.  She  said 
that  before  the  missionaries  came,  when  she  looked 
abroad,  the  inquiry  came  into  her  mind,  "What  great 
man  made  this  world?"  Her  mind  seemed  to  be  in- 
stinctively prepared  to  receive  instruction.  She  was 
our  joy,  and  the  crown  of  our  school.  We  even  dared 
to  hope  that  she  loved  the  truth :  but  the  test  came. 
Official  power,  accomplishments  and  wealth  combined, 
turned  the   scale.     Yet   her  conscience   was   so   ill   at 

204      ' 


1870.  205 

ease,  that  she  packed  her  wardrobe  and  was  on  the 
very  point  of  retiring  from  the  position,  which  she 
had  accepted,  when  her  plans  were  frustrated.  Al- 
though living  in  the  same  village,  she  was  no  longer 
under  the  influence  of  the  missionaries.  One  day  a 
teacher  incidentally  met  her.  She  was  as  ever  cordial 
and  communicative,  and  in  relation  to  the  choice  she 
had  made,  said,  "I  cry  every  day." 

These  girls  were  all  my  own  scholars.  I  loved 
them.  Through  all  the  scenes  that  I  have  passed  from 
that  time  to  this,  I  have,  without  record,  remembered 
their  names,  even  as  I  remembered  the  names  of  the 
children  of  my  own  brothers  and  sisters.  There  was 
Hana,   Polly,   Charlotte,   Mary  and  Jennie. 

And  here  let  me  mention  one  of  the  keenest  trials 
that  a  pioneer  missionary  is  called  to  experience.  He 
plants  a  vineyard.  When  he  looks  that  it  should 
bring  forth  grapes,  it  brings  forth  wild  grapes. 

"O  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a 
fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night 
for  the  slain  of  the  daughters  of  my  people!" 

ARTICLE    VII. 

The   Wife   of   the   Tahitian   Missionary. 

THE  London  Missionary  Society  sent  out  a  depu- 
tation of  two  gentlemen,  Rev.  Daniel" Tyerman 
and  George  Bennet,  Esq.,  to  visit  their  Missions  in 
the  South  Seas.  While  there,  two  converted  Tahitians 
and  their  wives  of  high  standing  in  the  church,  were 
set  apart  as  missionaries  to  the  three  destitute  islands 


206  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

of  the  Marquesas.  Mr.  Ellis,  their  pastor,  and  the 
deputation  wished  to  accompany  and  see  them  estab- 
lished in  their  new  field.  A  very  obliging  sea-captain, 
bound  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  engaged  to  take  and 
set  them  down  at  the  Marquesas,  but  the  wind  proving 
unpropitious,  he  deferred  going  there  until  his  return 
vovage.  Thus  it  was  that  they  became  the  welcome 
guests  of  the  Mission  House,  at  Honolulu.  The  Ta- 
hitian  missionaries,  with  their  simple  piety,  were  re- 
ceived with  no  less  interest.  And  although  they  were 
not  accommodated  at  the  Mission  House,  our  terms 
of  intercourse  were  intimate,  affectionate  and  confid- 
ing. The  captain  of  the  party,  too,  was  introduced 
to  us  as  a  man  of  high  moral  principles,  who  had 
been  to  them  a  brother.  He  was  young,  amiable,  and 
cultivated.  Nothing  was  more  natural,  while  he  lay 
in  port,  than  that  he  made  himself  familiar  at  the  Mis- 
sion House.  Sometimes  he  sat  with  us  at  the  family 
board,  oftener  made  social  calls. 

During  the  day  our  numerous  family  branched 
off  as  duty  or  inclination  led.  When  evening  hushed 
the  cares  of  life,  some  dozen  of  us  assembled  in  the 
sitting-room  to  enjoy  the  high  privilege  of  social  in- 
tercourse. On  a  certain  evening,  the  day  was  being 
thus  delightfully  crowned,  thought  eliciting  thought, 
with  an  ease  and  freedom  which  English  courtesy  ex- 
hibited and  encouraged, — when  we  were  startled  by 
a  loud  knock  at  the  door.  One  of  the  Tahitian  mis- 
sionaries had  come  with  the  astounding  intelligence 
that  their  own  captain,  with  a  band  of  his  sailors,  had 
just  been  to  their  house,  and  from  before  his  eyes, 
had  borne  away  his  wife  to  his  ship.  To  the  panic- 
stricken  husband,  there  was  no  redress.  The  thing 
must  take  its  course.  Law  had  not  then  raised  its 
powerful  arm  in  the  nation.    Every  one  did  what  was 


"OUR   MOST   NOBLE   QUEEN   EMMA 


1870.  207 

right  in  his  own  eyes,  and  looked  his  neighbor  straight 
in  the  face. 

(  >n  that  dark  and  black  night,  standing-  aghast 
at  the  revelation  of  such  fearful  villainy,  within  our 
own  trusted  circle.  I  turned  to  my  husband  and  asked, 
"What  protection  have  I  against  being  carried  off  in 
like  manner?"  He  replied,  "You  have  none."  Then 
I  remembered  with  dismay,  that  only  two  days  be- 
fore, that  same  captain  leisurely  spent  hours  in  the 
afternoon  at  the  Mission  House,  and  as  a  natural 
thing  invited  me  to  walk  on  the  plain.  It  was  one  of 
the  daily  duties  of  us  ladies  to  walk  for  health,  but 
never  without  an  escort.  We  had  perfect  confidence 
in  him,  and  yet  I  declined,  I  hardly  know  why. 

The  next  morning  Mr.  Ellis  visited  the  ship,  and 
when  he  asked  the  woman  to  go  ashore,  she  replied, 
"The  captain  will  not  let  me." 

There  were  two  hackneyed  expressions  in  those 
years,  which  have  become  obsolete.  The  one  was. 
that  "These  islands  lay  at  the  end  of  the  earth." 
The  other,  that  "Men  who  visited  them  left  their  con- 
sciences at  Cape  Horn." 

After  a  season,  the  Tahitian  missionary's  wife 
was  graciously  permitted  to  return  to  her  husband. 
The  pastor,  alive  to  her  interests,  said  to  me,  "She 
is  bent  on  spending  the  days  abroad  in  the  fields.  She 
seems  to  be  somewhat  partially  demented.  Do  go 
and  speak  to  her  words  of  comfort."  I  found  her  on 
the  plains,  with  a  square  covering  drawn  tightly 
around  the  whole  length  of  her  person,  and  her  chin 
resting  low  on  her  chest.  She  was  roaming  about, 
she  knew  not,  and  she  cared  not  whither.  She  neither 
wished  to  see,  nor  speak  to  any  one.     Desolation  and 


15 


208  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

despair  had  taken  fast  hold  of  her  soul.    A  blight  had 
fallen   upon  her  whole  being-. 

Instead  of  an  early  opportunity  of  returning,  our 
English  and  Tahitian  friends  were  unexpectedly  de- 
tained more  than  four  months.  Then  that  captain 
and  that  vessel  were  ready  for  sea.  Our  friends,  as 
travelers,  did  the  best  they  could,  embraced  the  only 
opportunity  that  offered  for  a  return,  entered  the 
same  vessel,  under  the  same  captain,  that  brought 
them  here.  The  ill-assorted  inmates  were  shut  up  to 
themselves,  and  sailed  away  together.  The  sole  ob- 
ject for  which  those  three  English  gentlemen  pro- 
jected the  voyage,  was  quashed.  A  visit  to  the  Mar- 
quesas, and  there  establishing  a  Mission,  was  neces- 
sarily given  up.  No  thanks  to  transgressors  that  other 
benevolent   plans   employed   their   activities. 

On  the  passage  back,  a  woman  died.  Under  the 
auspices  of  the  captain,  the  remains  were  sewed  up 
in  a  strong  canvas,  weighted  with  two  eighteen  pound 
balls,  and  committed  to  the  deep,  with  Christian  rites. 
It  was  the  corpse  of  the' crushed  wife  of  the  Tahitian 
missionary. 

She  was  born  in  idolatry,  and  hers  was  a  check- 
ered life.  Her  pastor  was  with  her  in  her  last  hours, 
and  hoped  she  sought  and  found  mercy. 

The  bereaved  husband  returned  to  his  old  home, 
a  three-fold  mourner;  the  loss  of  his  wife,  the  defec- 
tion of  her  character,  and  his  total  failure  in  the  mis- 
sion to  which  he  had  been  appointed. 

In  a  public  journal,  a  volume  of  500  pages,  in 
progress  at  that  period,  and  given  to  the  world  in 
1831,  cognizance  was  taken  of  this  affair.  The  wife 
of  the  Tahitian  missionary  was  called  by  name.  She 
was  compared  to  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner.     She 


1870.  209 

was  spoken  of  as  having  brought  disgrace  on  herself, 
and  occasioned  much  grief  to  her  Christian  relatives 
and  friends. 

The  captain  passed  on  with  an  unsullied  reputa- 
tion. And,  in  consequence  of  his  attentions  to  his 
passengers  to  and  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  he  was 
presented  with  six  large  hogs,  a  great  number  of 
cocoanuts,  some  breadfruits,  and  other  presents  of 
native  growth  and  manufacture. 

Thus  the  reputation  of  those  two  individuals  are 
even  now  sailing  down  the  stream  of  time.  And  this 
is  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  the  scale  was 
poised  between  civilized  man  and  olive  complexioned 
woman  in  these  Pacific  Seas,  in  the  former  part  of 
the  19th  century.  Wise  men  did  it,  who  knew  the 
times  and  sazv  the  phase  of  public  opinion,  and  who 
sat  the  first  in  the  kingdom  as  journalists  and  editors. 

ARTICLE    VIII. 

Missionaries'   Children   in   Pioneer   Life. 

I  NOW  approach  a  subject  compared  with  which  all 
personal  missionary  trials  sink  into  insignificance. 
it  was  forming  the  characters  of  children  on  mission- 
ary ground  in  pioneer  life.  Capt.  Chamberlain  brought 
out  with  us  five  promising  children,  between  the  age 
of  one  and  twelve.  No  one  of  us  had  conceived  the 
idea  that  children  with  unformed  characters  must  be 
separated  from  the  people  to  whom  we  were  sent. 
Those  children  were  in  full  connection  with  the  na* 
tive  children  of  our  family  boarding  school,  in  their 
studies,  in  their  amusements,  and  in  their  employ- 
ments.    When  our  English  missionary  friends  came, 


210  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

they  saw  at  a  glance  that  we  had  begun  upon  a  wrong 
tack  with  our  own  children.  They  spread  before  us 
the  developments  and  experiences  of  missionary  life 
for  thirty  years  at  the  Society  Islands.  Some  items  of 
intelligence  were  most  startling  in  their  character. 
The  earth  seemed  to  be  receding  from  beneath  our 
feet,  with  no  firm  foundation  remaining  on  which  to 
stand. 

Then  it  was  that  the  pioneer  missionaries  re- 
nounced their  republican  principles,  and.  with  one 
stride,  became  autocrats  of  the  first  water. 

The  next  influence  exerted  by  the  English  depu- 
tation respecting  our  children,  was,  in  giving  to  their 
young  American  brethren  a  piece  of  advice.  It  was 
this :  "Let  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chamberlain  take  their  six 
children,  go  home  and  train  them  up  for  God.  They 
never  can  do  it  here.  As  society  now  is,  for  unformed 
characters  to  come  in  contact  with  natives  as  foreign- 
ers, is  moral  death."  Those  most  interested  exhibited 
their  true  characters,  by  silently  laying  the  case  be- 
fore the  brethren  to  await  their  decision.  They  unani- 
mously said,  "Go."  Thus  we  younger  ones  lost  our 
parents.  With  two  infant  sons  and  five  infant  daugh- 
ters lying  on  our  arms,  we  were  left  to  stand  in  our 
lot,  and  breast  the  sweeping  tide  as  best  we  might. 

From  the  lips  of  one  of  Zion's  watchmen  at  that 
time,  fell  the  following  startling  words,  which  became 
engraven  on  my  brain,  as  with  a  red-hot  iron.  "The 
nation  must  be  converted,  or  our  own  children  will 
go  down  with  them  into  the  same  pit." 

We  were  going  forth  weeping,  bearing  precious 
seed.  Our  own  families  and  this  nation  were  both  in 
the  house  of  bondage. 


ARTICLE    IX. 

Kuakini,   or 

(~^  OV.  ADAMS,  as  he  was  called  by  foreigners,  was 
^— *  the  governor  of  Hawaii,  and  made  his  permanent 
residence  at  Kailna.  He  belonged  to  the  first  class 
of  chiefs,  was  a  noble  looking  man,  and  rose  higher 
in  civilized  habits  than  any  other  chief  of  his  time ; 
he  used  coffee  and  tea  daily  on  his  table,  dressed  uni- 
formly in  American  costume,  and  was  distinguished 
for  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language. 

In  the  third  year  of  the  mission,  when  he  was  at 
his  place  alone,  without  the  presence  of  a  missionary, 
he  built  a  church  for  the  white  man's  God.  When 
we  were  stationed  there,  he  established  family  wor- 
ship, and  induced  Mr.  Thurston  to  go  daily  and  offi- 
ciate at  his  house.  During  the  second  year  of  our 
residence  at  Kailua,  the  church  became  too  small  for 
the  increasing  numbers  who  would  fain  attend.  Gov. 
Adams  then  erected  another,  la'rger  and  more  commo- 
dious, one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  by  sixty.  It  was 
superior  to  any  house  of  native  workmanship  upon 
the  Islands.  When  this  was  burned  by  an  incendiary, 
the  Governor  erected  a  large  stone  house  of  worship, 
with  galleries  and  pulpit.  The  latter  cost  five  hun- 
dred   dollars. 

The  Governor  himself  occupied,  for  awhile,  a 
very  pretty  framed  house  with  green  window  shades. 
It  was  brought  from  America,  and  was  placed  in  a 
capacious  yard  surrounded  by  a  wall  ten  feet  in  height, 
and  about  the  same  in  width.     It  made  quite  a  distin- 

211 


212  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

guished  appearance  at  the  head  of  the  village.  He 
afterwards  changed  his  residence  towards  the  centre 
of  the  village,  where  he  erected  another  dwelling- 
house  in  more  costly  style.  His  influence  was  alto- 
gether on  the  side  of  civilization,  order,  and  improve- 
ment. He  gave  good  laws,  patronized  schools,  and 
for  a  time  had  both  a  reading  and  a  writing  school 
in  his  own  yard,  under  his  own  instruction.  He  read 
through  his  English  Bible  with  care,  and  assisted  in 
translating  the  Scriptures,  asked  a  blessing  at  table, 
and  attended  public  worship  regularly. 

For  awhile,  though  he  exhibited  so  many  good 
traits,  he  was  not  decidedly  pious.  He  was  the  first 
person  at  Kailua  who  solicited  baptism,  and  it  was  a 
very  trying  thing  to  him  that  he  could  not  be  among 
the  first  led  to  the  baptismal  font.  But  his  religious 
character  rested  in  the  clouds.  Another  company 
presented  themselves  for  baptism,  while  he  held  a  re- 
tired seat.  He  then  dispatched  a  letter  to  Oahu  in 
the  form  of  a  complaint,  saying,  if  he  were  not  bap- 
tized that  year,  he  never  would  be.  His  threatenings 
were  as  unavailing  as  his  solicitations.  There  was  a 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  church.  He  thought 
he  would  meet  with  them  ;  but  the  door  was  closed 
against  him,  even  by  his  own  sister  Kaahumanu,  who 
was  of  still  higher  standing  in  authority  than  him- 
self. So  he  sat  down  on  the  threshold  of  the  door, 
and  indulged  in  his  own  agitated  reflections.  He  re- 
turned home,  sat  up  and  read  his  Bible  during  the 
whole  night.  Thus  he  struggled, — until  he  felt  him- 
self to  be  a  "lost  man," — was  willing  to  accept  of 
salvation  on  the  humiliating  terms  of  the  gospel,  and 
enter  the  kingdom,  not  as.  a  chief,  but  as  a  little  child. 
The  usual  congregation  at  that  time  numbered  about 


1870.  213 

five  thousand.  The  day  the  Governor  was  baptized, 
it  was  computed  there  were  about  eight  thousand  in 
and  around  the  church. 

Governor  Adams,  in  calling-  on  his  teachers,  was 
most  entertained  in  visiting  the  room  where  domestic 
operations  were  performed.  He  continued  to  observe 
the  process  of  making  butter,  till  he  felt  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  art.  I  think  he  was  the  first  native  in  the 
nation  who  undertook  its  manufacture  forty  years  ago. 

He  commenced  thus :  After  separating  the  cream 
from  the  milk,  he  threw  the  cream  away,  and  put  the 
skimmed  milk  into  the  prepared  container.  Applica- 
tion and  perseverance  presided  over  that  churn.  But 
the  labor  was  all  in  vain.  He  hastened  to  compare 
his  notes  respecting  the  process  of  making  butter  with 
those  of  his  teachers.  He  thus  discovered  his  mis- 
take, and  learned  by  deep  experience  that  the  churn- 
ing of  cream  brought  forth  butter. 

Again  he  was  in  perplexity.  The  teacher's  butter 
was  all  one  color — yellow.  His  was  not  so.  Various 
hues  of  the  rainbow  were  detected  in  it, — red,  green, 
&c.  Some  parts  of  his  butter  were  fully  salted,  other 
parts  not  at  all.  Between  these  two  points,  salt  was 
worked  in,  in  different  degrees.  And  time  gave  dif- 
ferent hues  to  the  various  strata. 

But  with  the  docility  of  a  child,  he  took,  as  it 
were,  for  his  motto,  "Try,  try,  try  again,"  so  that  not 
many  moons  waxed  and  waned  before,  in  the  art  of 
making  butter,  he  was,  from  the  shoulders  and  up- 
wards, taller  than  any  of  his  fellows. 

When  we  first  reached  the  Islands,  not  one 
woman  in  the  nation,  and  but  one  man,  appeared  with 
a  covering  on  her  head.     The  first  native  woman  who 


214  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

was  seen  with  a  bonnet  in  church,  was  the  bride  of 
Thomas  Hopn,  at  the  time  they  were  married.  From 
that  period,  the  custom  gradually  extended,  led  off 
by  the  nobility.  After  the  mission  had  been  estab- 
lished many  years,  Governor  Adams  made  a  law  that 
no  woman  should  enter  his  yard  without  a  bonnet. 
Tf  the  law  was  broken,  the  penalty  was  to  have  the 
hair  cut  off  close  to  the  head.  After  that,  he  made 
another  law,  that  no  woman  should  enter  the  church 
without  a  bonnet.  The  natives  were  quite  ingenious 
in  manufacturing'  hats  and  bonnets  out  of  the  palm 
leaf  which   is   indigenous  to  these   Islands. 


ARTICLE    X. 

Naihe 

"\V7AS  a  principal  chief,  and  the  husband  of  Kapio- 
**  lani*.  He  was  of  commanding  stature,  and 
distinguished  for  refinement  and  polish  of  mind  and 
manners.  Such  was  his  fluency  and  eloquence  in 
speech  that  he  was  styled  the  national  orator. 

When  Gov.  Adams  was  absent  at  Oahu  for  two 
years,  Naihe  was  appointed  to  attend  to  his  official 
duties  on  Hawaii.  As  a  magistrate  he  was  as  firm 
as  he  was  affectionate,  and  in  passing  sentence  upon 
offenders,  the  tears  were  often  seen  chasing  each  other 
in  quick  succession  down  his  cheeks. 

We  enjoyed  frequent  intercourse  with  him,  and 
less  than  a  fortnight  before  his  death,  saw  him  at  his 

*She  was  the  heroine  who  first  dared  to  descend  into  the  crater 
of  Kilauea,  and  defy  the  goddess  that  was  universally  believed  by  the 
natives   to   reside   there. 


1870.  215 

own  place.  He  walked  out  with  us  to  our  conveyance 
and  there,  for  the  last  time,  pressed  my  hand  between 
both  his  own  with  all  the  exhibition  of  a  father's  feel- 
ings. He  had  then  been  feeble  for  a  few  days,  but 
several  times  we  received  encouraging  intelligence 
of  his  health.  How  then  was  I  amazed  at  the  expira- 
tion of  a  week,  to  hear  that  he  had  been  suddenly 
seized  and  lay  senseless !  Mr  Thurston  went  and  saw 
the  termination  of  the  fatal  apoplexy.  A  few  days 
previous  to  this  event,  he  called  into  his  presence  two 
of  his  confidential  men,  to  whom  he  thus  spoke: 
"There  is  something  in  me  which  tells  me  that  I  must 
die."  After  giving  charge  respecting  his  power  and 
possessions,  now  to  be  transferred,  he  added :  "Take 
care  of  the  missionaries.  Do  for  them  as  I  have 
done." 

As  a  Christian,  Naihe  was  decided  and  devout. 
Well  I  remember  one  Sabbath,  when  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per was  celebrated.  Naihe  was  present,  from  his  resi- 
dence a  distance  of  sixteen  miles,  a  circumstance  of 
frequent  occurrence.  He  sat  there  with  his  accus- 
tomed dignity,  such  as  begets  in  mortals  respect  and 
esteem.  I  looked  at  him  and  looked  again.  Some- 
thing more  deep,  more  reverential  than  I  had  before 
observed,  seemed  to  sit  upon  his  countenance.  He 
appeared  as  if  in  the  presence  chamber  of  his  Maker. 
It  proved  to  be  the  last  time  that  we  worshipped  to- 
gether in  earthly  courts. 


ARTICLE    XI. 

Kaahumanu. 

HAVE  seen  a  woman  of  portly  dimensions  go  drip- 
•*•  ping  from  her  bathing  place  in  the  ocean  to  make 
a  call  on  the  missionaries.  In  the  presence  of  them 
and  their  wives,  she  entered  their  sitting  room.  With 
the  ease  and  self  possession  of  royalty,  she  took  a 
seat  on  the  settee,  and  carried  on  conversation  with 
freedom.  Did  I  say  she  came  from  the  bathing  place? 
— She  came  as  it  were  from  Eden,  in  the  dress  of 
innocence. 

Ten  years  after,  the  work  of  moulding  her  char- 
acter, and  of  her  moulding  the  character  of  the  na- 
tion, ceased.  For  fifty  years  she  had  lived  in  heathen- 
ism. Then  she  entered  upon  a  new  life.  A  brighter 
example  of  the  power  and  grace  of  God,  never  passed 
from  Hawaii  to  Heaven.  It  was  Kaahumanu,  the 
highest  chief  in  the  nation,  possessed  of  royal  au- 
thority. 

As  a  heathen  she  was  the  haughty,  majestic  sov- 
ereign of  Hawaii.  As  a  Christian,  she  was  energetic 
and  decided,  but  the  humble  Queen  and  Mother  of 
her  subjects,  from  nobility  down  to  peasantry.  All 
the  missionaries  she  adopted  as  her  own  children ; 
and  instead  of  doing  as  she  had  done,  giving  them 
her  little  finger  with  arrogant  and  imperial  airs,  she 
gave  them  her  heart  with  maternal  tears. 

216 


ARTICLE    XII. 

Kamehameha  I. 
The  Blacksmith  and  his  Daughter. 

WHAT  I  am  now  about  to  relate,  fell  under  my 
own  observation,  or  was  received  from  the  lips 
of  him,  of  whose  eventful  life  I  speak. 

Far.  far  back  in  the  prosperous  reign  of  Kame- 
hameha I.  a  vessel  visited  these  Islands.  She  had 
on  board  a  blacksmith. 

Kamehameha  was  every  inch  a  king.  All  these 
Islands  were  made  for  him ;  and  so  he  thought  was 
that  foreign  blacksmith.  Power  and  skill  so  inter- 
laced providences,  that  when  the  vessel  sailed,  the 
blacksmith  was  detained  on  shore.  Stung  to  very 
frenzy  by  being  left  in  those  revolting  circumstances, 
to  drown  thought,  he  turned  to  the  bottle.  When 
his  spree  was  over,  he.  worked  for  his  royal  master, 
but  with  the  full  purpose  of  embracing  the  first  op- 
portunity to  leave  the  Islands. 

Kamehameha  had  never  been  introduced  to  the 
code  ,of  Christian  morals.  Another  vessel  came  and 
went,  and  the  pioneer  blacksmith  was  still  detained. 
The  frightful  idea  of  long  and  hopeless  captivity  now 
burst  upon  him.  He  drank  more  deeply,  to  assuage 
by  oblivious  sleep  his  burning  madness.,  But  for  him 
there  were  no  soothing  influences,  no  gentle  whis- 
pers. His  further  experiences  were  simply  recur- 
lences   of  the  bitter  past. 

When  power  slipped  from  the  hand  of  the  great 
Conqueror,  a  vigilant  eye  was  no  longer  necessary. 
The  man  had  been  crushed.  He  no  longer  desired  to 
return   to  his   native  country.     His   highest  ambition 

217 


218  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

was  his  bottle.  He  knew  by  deep  experience,  the 
horrors  of  delirium  tremens.  He  knew  the  agony  of 
mind  which  precedes  suicide.  He  had  made  all  prepa- 
ration. The  hand  containing  the  fatal  poison  was  on 
the  way  to  his  mouth.  An  impulse  suddenly  arrested 
him,  and  influenced  him  to  hurl  that  death-dealing 
potion  to  the  winds. 

Such  was  his  sad  state  when  the  American  Mis- 
sionaries reached  these  Islands  in  1820.  Other  for- 
eigners  came  and  took  us  by  the  hand.  For  four 
years  he  never  approached  us.  His  first  call  was  one 
never  to  be  forgotten.  His  embarrassment  was  over- 
whelming. We  were  then  living  in  a  mud-walled 
hut  made  for  a  cookhouse,  simply  having  such  sur- 
roundings as  enabled  us  to  live.  His  confusion  of 
mind  was  simply  from  coming  into  the  presence  of 
one  of  his  own  country-women.  It  would  naturally 
give  a  fresh  view  of  better  days,  and  a  more  realizing 
sense  of  the  deep  pit  into  which  he  had  fallen.  He 
was  more  at  ease  before  he  left  us;  something  of  a 
kindly  feeling  must  have  kindled  within  him,  for  he 
ever  after  made  us  calls. 

His  house  was  the  rendezvous  for  the  gang  who 
kept  their  blue  Saturdays.  When  this  line  of  life 
ceased  with  him,  and  he  had  footed  the  last  bill,  he 
estimated  that  he  had  spent  seven  thousand  dollars 
for  himself  and  others  in  liquor.  He  had  been  roused 
to  attend  public  worship.  By  placing  himself  beneath 
gentle  and  renovating  influences,  he  at  length  stood 
up  a  temperate  man,  and  a  humble  Christian.  With 
the  feelings  of  a  conqueror  he  then  looked  to  achieve 
one  more  victory.  He  had  an  only  child,  a  daughter, 
approaching  womanhood.  Her  type  of  character  was 
similar  to  the  young  in  those  vears,  under  very  little 


1870.  219 

more  control  than  the  wild  goats  of  the  mountain. 
In  two  respects  she  differed.  She  was  smarter  and 
proportionately  more  mischievous.  He  went  into  his 
own  shop  and  made  an  iron  ring  in  which  to  incase 
her  ankle.  He  then  chained  her  to  the  post  standing 
in  the  middle  of  his  thatched  house,  reaching  from 
the  ground  to  the  ridge-pole.  After  being  thus  con- 
fined for  three  weeks,  her  ankle  became  chafed  and 
swollen.  She  promised  fair.  He  pitied  and  released 
her.  She  immediately  left  his  premises,  went  straight 
to  a  neighboring'  outhouse,  and  secreted  herself  in  a 
barrel.  He  sought  and  found  her,  and,  with  an  un- 
wavering purpose,  secured  her  as  before.  With  a 
persistence  allied  to  that  of  Grant's  on  a  broader  scale. 
he  now  kept  her  chained  to  that  post  three  additional 
months.  The  battle  was  won.  The  daughter  had 
learned  to  fear,  to  obey,  and  to  love  her  father.  She 
then  came  under  his  guidance,  the  instruction  and  in- 
fluence of  the  missionaries,  as  had  never  been  thought 
of  before.  She  married,  became  a  faithful  wife,  a 
devoted  mother,  and  a  humble  Christian.  The  name 
of  her  father  has  been  obliterated  among  men ;  but 
his  female  descendants  have  honorably  received  the 
names  of  five  foreigners.  He  died  and  was  entombed 
in  his  own  yard.  But  he  still  lives  on  these  Hawaiian 
Islands,  lives  in  his  posterity  of  three  generations. 

His  conjugal  vicissitudes,  all  with  the  sable 
daughers  of  the  land,  were  not  tragic  like  those  of 
Henry  the  Eighth ;  for  at  the  time  of  his  death,  there 
were  three  ex-wives,  and  still  another  living  with  him. 
His  fourth  wife  was  a  crown  of  glory  to  her  husband. 
Tn  manner  she  was  at  once  humble  and  dignified.  She 
belonged   to   Nature's   nobility.      In   being   introduced 


220  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

as  mistress  of  that  wrecked  house,  she  reigned  queen 
of  hearts.  Her  husband  was  fuly  sensible  that  through 
her  influence  he  had  become  elevated  to  a  higher  plane, 
and  grieved  that  so  few  years  remained  in  which  to 
enjoy  a  happiness  he  had  never  before  tasted. 

Number  four  entered  that  family  with  her  eyes 
open.  She  knew  that  number  two  was  still  a  mem- 
ber of  that  household,  as  it  were  to  grind  at  the  mill. 
She  heeded  it  not,  but  gathered  up  her  strength  to 
be  to  the  desolate  white  man  a  help-meet  and  a  solace. 
Thus  years  were  measured  off  to  him  beneath  a  serene 
setting  sun.  Then  he  was  cut  down  with  a  stroke. 
I  saw  him  inclosed  in  a  coffin,  which  was  sustained 
at  an  elevation  of  common  chairs.  By  the  head,  sat 
in  repose,  two  female  forms,  habited  in  black.  The 
weeping  eyes  of  both  were  fixed  upon  one  counte- 
nance.    They  were  number  four  and  number  two. 

No  envy,  or  jealousy,  or  suspicion,  ever  seemed 
to  mar  the  kindly  feeling  of  the  ill-assorted  inmates 
of  that  home.  They  were  borne  along  the  quiet  stream 
of  life  in  peace  and  simplicity. 

Honor  be  to  the  memory  of  the  humble  old  patri- 
arch. I  knew  him  well.  He  had  my  most  profound 
sympathy  in  his  deep  degradation,  in  his  mighty  con- 
flicts, and  in  his  great  conquests. 


ARTICLE    XIII. 

A   First  Native   Prayer   Meeting. 

WHEN  Mr.  Thurston  first  commenced  his  Hawai- 
ian labors  at  Kaihta,  the  new  native  church  was 
every  Sabbath  filled  to  overflowing,  with  doors  and 
windows  crowded.  There  was  a  company  of  natives, 
common  men,  who  for  a  time  went  and  stood  on  the 
outside  of  the  church,  by  an  open  window.  Their 
object  was  to  scoff.  They  pointed  the  finger  of  ridi- 
cule and  said :  "The  priest  shuts  up  his  eyes  to  pray." 
Then  uttering  expressions  of  contempt,  they  went 
away  laughing,  when  prayers  were  half  through. 

After  awhile,  they  felt  differently,  and  attended 
seriously.  These  new  feelings  grew  upon  them,  till 
they,  too,  wished  to  worship  God.  But  they  did  not 
know  how.  They  had  only  learned  his  name ;  that 
was  all.  Everything  else  was  dark.  Yet  their  feel- 
ings inclined  them  to  meet  for  social  worship.  They 
had  learned  from  the  teacher's  family  the  manner  of 
kneeling.  They  had  learned  through  the  open  win- 
dows of  the  church,  that  they  must  first  shut  their 
eyes  and  then  speak  to  Jehovah.  In  praying  to  their 
idols,  they  always  kept  their  eyes  open.  What  they 
had  learned,  they  wished  at  once  to  put  in  practice. 
They  therefore  appointed  a  prayer  meeting  the  next 
Sabbath  evening  in  a  large  house,  made  for  storing 
canoes. 

They  met  accordingly,  and  in  sitting  down, 
formed  a  straight  line  across  the  middle  of  the  house, 
from  end  to  end.  .Then,  all  kneeling,  the  first  man 
at  one  end  of,  the  row,  carefully  closed  his  eyes,  and 

221 


222  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

repeated  this  prayer :  "O.  Jehovah,  we  pray  to  thee  " 
They  could  say  no  more.  They  knew  no  more.  Every 
one  there,  in  the  same  manner  in  course,  repeated  that 
same  prayer,  "O,  Jehovah,  we  pray  to  thee."  The 
meeting  was  then  ended.  But  before  they  dispersed, 
they  appointed  another  prayer  meeting'. 

Again,  the  next  Sabbath  evening,  they  met. 
Again  they  ranked  and  prayed,  in  course  and  manner 
as  before,  and  were  able  to  add  to  their  prayer,  thus : 
"'O,  Jehovah,  we  pray  to  thee.  Take  care  of  us  this 
night."  In  this  way  they  proceeded,  step  by  step,  and 
continued  to  prolong  their  prayers  from  meeting  to 
meeting. 

They  likewise  introduced  a  new  exercise  by  way 
of  variety.  They  sent  one  out  to  stand  alone  in  a 
spot  where  all  was  silence  and  darkness  to  obtain  a 
thought.  When  he  returned,  he  was  asked:  "Have 
you  obtained  a  thought?"  "Yes."  Without  inquir- 
ing what  it  was  another  was  sent  out  after  the  same 
manner,  and 'so  on.  If  one  returned  quickly,  though 
he  professed  to  have  obtained  a  thought,  it  was  not 
acceptable  to  those  within ;  but  he  must  go  again, 
go  out  farther  into  the  dark,  stay  longer,  and  thus 
obtain  a  better  thought.  They  expected  that  by  wait- 
ing on  God  under  such  circumstances,  he  would  re- 
veal himself  to  every  heart.  Such  were  their  first 
unaided  efforts  in  feeling  after  God. 

One  of  these  men  belonged  to  our  household  dur- 
ing a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  was  in  after  years  that 
he  told  me  the  manner  in  which  he  learned  the  ABC 
of  prayer.  Then  he  was  able  to  pray  with  the  fer- 
vency and  wide  scope  of  a  minister,  and  was  often 
called  on  to  officiate  at  funerals.  In  connection  with 
this  account,  the  importance  is  impressively  shown  of 
putting  out  a  talent  to  usury. 


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ARTICLE    XIV. 

A   First   Case   of   Church   Discipline. 

KAENAKU  was  a  distinguished  native  woman. 
She  was  tempted,  and  lured  into  sin.  Her  hus- 
hand  was  an  unbeliever  in  the  new  religion.  There 
were  no  newspapers'  in  those  days  to  give  intelligence. 
He  availed  himself  of  the  usages  of  the  times.  In  the 
early  hush  of  evening,  with  a  loud  voice,  he  pro- 
claimed through  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
village,  that  a  church  member  had  been  guilty  of 
adultery. 

Then  he  went  home  to  comfort  the  culprit.  His 
dingy,  thatched  hut  had  but  one  opening.  It  was  in 
the  middle,  through  which  they  entered  half  doubled. 
He  placed  his. wife  in  one  of  its  close  darkened  cor- 
ners, and  forbade  her  leaving  it. 

When  church  members  came  to  see  her,  he  would 
stand  between  them  and  her,  to  say,  that  there  was  no 
use  in  their  coming  there  to  speak  to  her  words  of 
encouragement.  She  could  no  more  do  right  than  a 
stone  could  roll  up  hill.  When  he  ate  his  meals,  if 
he  so  willed,  he  rolled  her  a  potato,  and  she  ate  it. 
Otherwise  she  had  opportunity  of  fasting.  Yet  he 
had  grace  to  allow  her  one  privilege.  When  the  bell 
rung  for  a  reigious  exercise,  if  conducted  entirely  by 
a  missionary,  she  might  attend  by  going  directly  there, 
and  coming  directly  back. 

When  moral  darkness  brooded  over  the  land,  a 
darkness  that  could  be  felt,  Kaenaku  arose  like  a 
bright  morning  star,  harbinger  of  coming  day.     Then 

223 

16 


224  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

how  fallen!  She  was  denied  freedom,  denied  social 
intercourse,  discarded  utterly  and  forever  by  her  hus- 
band, doomed  to  live  continually  beneath  his  frown- 
ing brow,  his  cruel  government,  and  made  a  target 
to   be   daily  pierced  with  his  sharp  arrows. 

One  day  he  went  abroad.  She  embraced  the  op- 
portunity, slipped  out,  and  went  a  mile  to  see  her 
female  teacher.  She  frankly  told  her  story ;  acknowl- 
edged that  in  walking  with  a  large  company,  in  an 
unprotected  state,  across  the  wide^waste  of  the  island, 
she  had  fallen  into  sin,  and  was  very  sorry  for  it. 
But  the  unfeeling  manner  in  which  her  husband  was 
crushing  her  for  a  vice  so  common,  highly  exasper- 
ated her. 

The  teacher  said  to  her:  "You  have  been  guilty 
of  a  great  sin  against  your  husband.  Unless  he  re- 
quires you  to  do  wrong,  accept  with  meekness  and 
obedience,  whatever  he  is  pleased  to  measure  out  to 
you."  In  the  depths  of  her  distress,  to  be  thus  re- 
ceived by  her  teacher,  whom  she  loved  and  trusted, 
was  to  her  a  blank  disappointment.  She  had  fled  to 
her  for  consolation,  but  she  had  only  painfully  probed 
her,  and  ordered  the  most  self-denying  remedies. 

A  long  conversation  followed.  At  length  she 
arose  and  stood  face  to  face  with  her  teacher.  Eye 
met  eye,  hers  without  a  blink,  and  without  a  move- 
ment in  a  single  muscle  of  her  face.  Stern  resolve 
was  written  on  every  line  of  her  countenance.  Just 
in  that  attitude,  a  long,  long  silence  was  measured 
off.  Then  she  opened  her  mouth  and  said,  "I'll  do 
it";  tenderly  gave  her  hand  and  her  aloha,  and  re- 
turned to  her  wretched  home  to  begin  anew.  And 
she  did  it. 


1870.  225 

The  next  time  she  called  upon  her  teacher,  she 
was  a  free  woman.  She  carried  in  her  hand  a  manu- 
script of  some  fifteen  or  twenty  pages.  In  her  seclu- 
sion, and  under  her  serious  but  salutary  discipline, 
she  poured  forth  her  views,  and  the  feelings  of  her 
heart  upon  paper.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  not  a 
word  was  dropped  alluding  to  the  abuse  and  severity 
of  her  husband.  She  had  found  her  proper  place  of 
self-abasement.  The  fifty-first  psalm  was  a  transcript 
of  her  heart  broken  for  sin.  She  said,  long  as  she 
lived  on  earth,  she  should  make  it  her  study  to  do 
God's  will.  When  she  died,  he  might  dispose  of  her 
just  as  he  pleased.  The  recreant  manner  in  which 
she  had  treated  Christ  and  his  cause,  made  her  feel 
that  she  merited  crucifixion  with  her  head  downward. 
Occasionally  she  would  sit,  as  if  lost  in  deep  thought, 
and  then  sigh,  as  if  from  the  very  bottom  of  her  heart. 

Possessing  talents  of  the  very  first  order,  and 
cunning  with  her  needle,  she  was  an  appendage  of 
nobility.  She  had  white  embroidered  dresses,  and 
silk  ones  of  brilliant  colors.  All  these  she  laid  aside, 
feeling  that  they  were  not  suitable  for  her  who  had 
sinned  so  deeply,  thus  to  adorn  her  person.  She  aimed 
only  at  respectability.  A  black  silk  dress,  a  black 
mantle,  a  plaited  palm  leaf  bonnet  trimmed  with  black, 
formed  her  usual  Sabbath  habit.  With  her  jet  black 
hair  and  jet  black  eyes,  it  was  a  very  becoming'  cos- 
tume. 

By  her  meekness  and  wisdom  she  soothed  the 
fierce  anger  of  her  husband,  and  completely  won  back 
his  affections.  He  fully  reinstated  her  in  her  former 
position.  She  was  again  gladly  received  as  a  Sabbath- 
school  teacher,  where  she  was  a  model  of  faithfulness. 


226  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

The  church  welcomed  her  return  to  its  bosom,  with 
tearful  rejoicing,  and  with  increased  affection  and 
confidence.  She  again  approached  the  Lord's  table, 
with  the  deepest  penitence  and  humility.  Much  had 
been  forgiven  her,  and  she  loved  much. 

On  the  eve  of  thus  being  most  happily  restored 
to  all  her  former  privileges,  her  teachers  sailed  to  at- 
tend the  General  Meeting  of  the  Mission.  When 
they  returned,  Kaenaku  was  in  her  grave. 

Even  then  the  sad  story  of  her  defection  was  be- 
ing told  in  Gath,  and  published  in  Ashkelon,  causing 
the  enemies  of  the  church  to  triumph,  and  her  own 
children  to  be  made  sad — but  her  teachers  knew,  and 
that  infant  church  knew,  and  the  angels  knew,  that 
from  polluted  Hawaii,  from  the  ashes  of  idolatry,  her 
soul  had  struggled  up,  to  swell  the  notes  of  Redeem- 
ing love. 


ARTICLE   XV. 

Thatched   Houses. 

DURING  the  first  twelve  years  of  missionary  life, 
we  dwelt  ten  years  in  eight  successive  thatched 
cottages,  all  without  a  floor.  Five  of  them  had  no 
other  window  than  that  of  cutting  away  the  thatch, 
leaving  the  bare  poles.  After  reaching  the  Islands, 
two  of  these  cottages  had  been  successively  the  abode 
of  royalty.  Two  thatched  ones  made  under  our  own 
direction,  were  divided  into  rooms  by  thatched  parti- 
tions, having  also  glass  windows,  few  and  far  be- 
tween. 


1870.  227 

Those  thatched  buildings  made  comparatively 
comfortable  summer  houses.  But  during  bleak,  rainy 
seasons,  to  those  with  any  constitutional  disease  or 
weakness,  it  involved  both  health  and  life.  It  was  in 
these  circumstances  that  pulmonary  complaints  took 
fast  hold  of  my  frame.  I  looked  around  for  means 
to  resist  this  invasion.  I  lorseback  rides  seemed  de- 
sirable. 


ARTICLE    XVI. 

My   First   Horseback   Ride. 

IT  was  in  1825.  Horses  were  very  scarce  in  those 
days,  owned  only  by  the  first-class  of  chiefs.  I 
asked  Gov.  Adams  if  he  had  one  of  established  habits 
for  sobriety.  He  assured  me  that  he  had,  and  that  I 
should  make  trial  of  it.  It  was  brought.  It  had  a 
kind  of  cloth  pad,  a  foot  and  a  half  square  on  its 
back,  confined  with  ropes,  and  a  rope  for  its  bridle. 
Necessarily  leaving'  the  two  children  under  the 
care  of  their  father.  I  went  out  and  mounted.  But 
by  ordinary  means,  there  seemed  to  be  no  such  a  thing 
as  getting  a  single  step  out  of  the  animal.  At  length, 
by  having  one  native  go  before  and  pull,  and  an- 
other go  in  the  rear  and  drive,  locomotion  slowly 
commenced.  Seated  on  a  curve,  without  any  facili- 
ties for  preserving  my  equilibrium,  urgency  compelled 
my  free  hands  to  grasp  the  mane.  We  had  just  sur- 
mounted all  obstacles,  and  I  was  becoming  mistress 
of  that  new  state  of  things,  when  suddenly  we  came 
to  a  dead  stand,  by  reason  of  a  substantial  stone  wall. 


228  Life   of   Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

which  crossed  our  pathway.  It  could  not  of  course 
be  turned  aside  like  a  gate ;  but  the  expected  medical 
aid  was  not  to  be  given  up.  As  there  was  no  alter- 
native to  success,  the  two  natives  went  to  work  cheer- 
fully in  laying  stone  by  stone  aside.  After  some 
delay,  we  proceeded  on  as  before,  and  entered  the 
village.  All  left  their  houses  to  come  and  gaze.  Evi- 
dently here  was  a  novelty  beyond  that  of  getting  on 
the  stupid  beast.  It  was  this :  A  woman  was  riding 
with  both  limbs  accommodated  on  one  side  of  the 
horse,  a  thing  never  seen  before ;  although  the  Gov- 
ernor and  head  woman  had  given  them  examples  of 
female  horsemanship.  After  becoming  the  observed 
of  all  observers,  and  having  received  a  reflection  of 
their  happy  faces,  we  turned  back,  put  up  the  gap  in 
the  wall,  and  reached  home  with  merry  hearts,  hav- 
ing enjoyed  in  the  ride  all  that  was  ludicrous. 

I  then  remembered  that  when  at  Honolulu,  a 
newly  arrived  sea-captain  called  on  the  missionaries 
and  informed  them  that  he  had  brought  out  for  them 
some  notions,  such  as  high-post  bedsteads  and  side- 
saddles. The  English  Deputation  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  were  then  inmates  of  our  family. 
They  never  forgot,  and  they  never  allowed  us  to  for- 
get, our  American  notions,  high-post  bedsteads  and 
side-saddles. 

I  sent  and  obtained  one  of  those  saddles.  We 
had  a  wicket  gate,  hung  with  leather  hinges  from  a 
worn  out  shoe,  introduced  into  the  stone  wall.  Gov. 
Adams  kindly  allowed  me  his  own  fleet  saddle-horse. 
Thus  I  was  accommodated  for  sanitary  rides. 


ARTICLE    XVII. 

Pulmonary   Disease.       Complete   Deliverance   From. 

MY  youthful  years  opened  upon  life  with  a  great 
degree  of  physical  health  and  vigor.  A  little 
more  than  a  year  before  I  first  left  my  country,  my 
mother  from  active  life  was  "suddenly  laid  upon  a  bed 
of  fever  and  great  helplessness.  A  sister  or  myself 
were  constantly  by  her  side  both  by  day  and  by  night. 
Tn  one  short  week  the  disease  proved  fatal.  A  few 
hours  before  she  breathed  her  last,  in  the  chamber 
of  death,  I  expectorated  blood  from  the  lungs.  For 
six  weeks  it  was  the  cause  of  much  debility.  Then 
a  very  slight  cough  commenced,  and  it  constantly  in- 
creased till  it  was  very  harassing.  The  scales  were 
vacillating.  Powerful  remedies  brought  it  to  a  severe 
crisis.  It  was  life,  recovery.  Again  I  engaged  in 
active  scenes,  and  for  several  months  sustained  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  school-room.  My  health  seemed 
confirmed.  It  was  never  alluded  to  by  any  one,  in 
deciding  about  engaging  in  the  enterprise  of  a  foreign 
mission. 

Three  years  after  those  sufferings,  /  became  a 
mother.  Two  days  after  that  event,  a  slight  cough 
commenced.  It  increased  and  kept  me  in  a  prostrate, 
perilous  position.  But  I  at  length  rallied,  and  appar- 
ently stood  again  on  firm  ground.  Three  years  more 
run  their  rounds  in  health.  Then  the  hard  struggles 
of  pioneer  life,  its  efforts  and  its  privations  again 
prostrated  me  with  pulmonary  complaints.  Nature 
triumphed,  and  I  was  again  free. 

229 


230  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

Scarcely  a  year  had  elapsed,  when  we  were  visted 
by  storms  of  fierce  winds  and  deluging  rains,  uncom- 
monly long  and  severe.  No  ray  of  light  was  admitted 
into  our  dwelling  but  through  an  open  door.  Our 
house  was  thatched  with  lauhala  leaves,  and  these 
were  loosely  put  on  by  unfaithful  hands.  The  only 
spot  I  could  call  home  was  damp,  cold,  and  bleak. 
When  the  evening  mountain  breeze  came  down  in 
its  strength,  I  enveloped  myself  in  flannel  and  found 
refuge  beneath  the  double  curtains  of  a  bed.  Thus 
all  had  been  well,  had  not  heavy  dampness  acted  upon 
me  as  a  blight.  Disease  took  fast  hold  of  my  frame, 
and  became  obstinate.  The  very  breath  1  drew  daily 
fastened  on  my  mind  the  impression  that  I  should 
soon  die  of  consumption.  Four  years  passed  away 
before  I  was  restored  to  my  former  vigor.  But  as 
it  appeared  in  after  life,  victory  over  disease  was  then 
most  complete.  The  penalty  for  accidental  over-ex- 
ertion in  my  mother's  short,  fatal  sickness,  was  en- 
tirely paid  in  ten  years. 

Afterwards,  for  more  than  thirty  years  spent  at 
Kailua,  not  even  sweeping  influenzas  seemed  to  touch 
me,  nor  was  I  affected  with  common  colds.  I  shared 
both  in  common  with  others,  after  passing  from  that 
to   other   climates. 


ARTICLE    XVIII. 

Hawaii. 

WE  were  taught  that  unprovoked,  the  natives  of 
these  islands  conspired  the  death  of  the  great 
navigator,  Capt.  Cook,  cut  ofif  vessels,  murdered  crews, 
and  chewed  the  flesh  of  their  enemies  as  the  sweetest 
titbit   of   revenue. 


1870.  231 

Conversing  with  the  captain  of  our  vessel,  a  few 
weeks  before  reaching  these  islands,  in  1820,  he  re- 
marked that  he  must  get  his  guns  out,  for  it  was  not 
safe  to  approach  these  islands  without  being  in  a 
state  of  defense.  "Wihat,"  I  replied,  "leave  us,  a 
feeble  company,  in  a  defenseless  state,  among  a  peo- 
ple you  cannot  approach  without  fire-arms?"  "Ah," 
said  he,  shaking  his  head,  "it  is  not  my  wish  to  leave 
you  in  such  circumstances." 

We  were  dropped  clown  on  their  shores,  and  left 
in  their  sole  power.  From  personal  acquaintance  and 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  their  character,  we  found 
them,  as  a  nation,  ignorant,  debased,  polluted,  wedded 
to  their  sins ;  but  all  was  done  in  a  good-natured  way. 
Alcoholic  drinks  had  the  same  effect  on  them  as  upon 
the  civilized  world ;  it  turned  men  into  brutes.  But 
to  be  implacably  cruel  and  revengeful  toward  their 
enemies  formed  no  part  of  their  character.  They 
were  peculiarly  simple,  and  child-like,  affectionate  and 
confiding.  There  is  no  figure  of  speech  in  saying 
that  when  Queen  Kamamalu,  who  afterwards  died  in 
England,  found  a  daughter  of  America,  a  stranger 
in  a  strange  land,  under  peculiar  trials,— she,  being 
possessed  of  ample  dimensions,  cradled  the  afflicted 
one  in  her  arms,  pillowed  her  head  upon  her  bosom, 
and  wept  over  her  tears  of  sympathy.  And  now  after 
a  lapse  of  fifty  years,  a  review  of  those  friendships, 
formed  with  those  children  of  nature,  in  those  early 
days,  stirs  within  me  the  deepest  emotions  of  my  soul. 
O  Kamamalu,  Kamamalu,  thou,  too,  didst  become  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  and  when  there  so  early 
called  to  plunge  into  the  dark,  cold  stream,  didst  thou 
reach  a  better  land? 


232  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

The  missionaries  by  accommodating-  themselves 
to  new  circumstances,  both  with  firmness  and  with 
elasticity,  by  quietly  dropping  the  seed  of  the  King- 
dom as  opportunity  offered,  passed  along  five  years 
beside  the  still  waters.  It  was  when  the  seed  sprung 
up,  and  brought  forth  fruit,  that  they  were  called  to 
put  on  the  whole  armor,  that  they  had  prepared,  in 
which  to  face  a  savage  nation.  Their  heaviest  mis- 
sionary trials  came  by  inversion  ;  came  from  the  other 
side  of  the  globe,  from  representatives  of  the  proud 
Christian  nations  of  England  and  America. 

Ten  natives  stood  propounded  for  admission  into 
the  church.  Among  them  were  Kaahumanu,  the  ener- 
getic and  decided  ruler  of  the  Kingdom,  Kalaimoku, 
her  powerful  Executive,  the  two  dowager  queens  that 
sailed  with  us  on  board  the  Thaddcus,  the  ex-queen 
of  Kauai,  a  son  of  King  Kaumualii,  and  Kapiolani, 
a  high  chiefess,  second  to  no  one  in  noble  aspirations 
and  acts.  As  yet  no  native  church  had  been  organ- 
ized in  the  land.  There  was  simply  that  transplanted 
church  from  Boston,  to  which  had  been  added  a  re- 
inforcement. 

Under  such  circumstances,  an  English  ship 
touched  at  these  islands,  bringing  some  strange  ani- 
mals. They  were  white-skinned  bipeds,  of  the  genus 
called  Homo.  They  appeared  to  have  a  fellowship 
one  with  another,  for,  after  leaping  ashore,  they 
seemed  to  cling  to  each  other  in  a  body,  in  number 
about  forty.  They  bore  along  with  them  what  in 
the  hands  of  soldiers  would  have  been  called  weapons 
of  death.  They  had,  too,  the  gift  of  speech ;  for, 
from  their  lips,  in  English  accents,  proceeded  sounds 
like  these:  "If  the  missionary  will  teach  the  people 
that  thev  are  absolved  from  obeying  the  ten  command- 


1870.  233 

ments,  it  will  be  well  with  him.  Otherwise,  we  will 
take  his  life,  and  burn  down  his  house." 

The  wife  of  the  missionary  was  then  isolated, 
looking  alone  to  her  husband  for  protection.  She 
was  a  refined  lady,  then  in  a  most  delicate  state  of 
health.  But  she  was  equal  to  the  emergency,  and 
both  she  and  her  husband  rose  to  the  heroism  and 
sublimity  of  the  spirit  of  martyrdom.  Then  it  was 
that  the  people  known  through  our  world  as  barba- 
rians and  savages,  formed  a  garrison  around  their 
teachers,  and  stood  day  and  night  with  pointed  bayo- 
net. Then  it  was  that  Hoopili-kane,  of  the  first-class 
of  chiefs,  stood  up  in  his  power  and  strength,  and 
portly  bearing,  and  said:  "If  they  shoot  my  teacher, 
the  ball  shall  pass  through  me  -first.''  He  had  become 
the  husband  of  the  dowager  queen  of  the  white  dress. 
They  were  helps  meet  for  each  other,  and  long  lived 
to  be  a  nursing  father  and  a  nursing  mother  to  the 
church   of  Lahaina. 

Thus  when  the  Bible  was  brought  to  these  isl- 
ands, it  made  great  confusion.  It  was  invading  the 
strongholds  of  an  opposite  power,  which  had  main- 
tained undisturbed  sway  for  ages.  Its  foreign  emis- 
saries were  active  and  bold.  They  entered  a  territory 
belonging  to  a  Sovereign  Power.  They  cast  their 
eyes  upon  a  vineyard  where  the  first  gush  of  joy  had 
been  experienced  by  the  missionaries  and  natives  min- 
gling prayers  and  tears  and  labors  together.  The  in- 
truders said :  "We  will  slay  the  people  here  with  physi- 
cal and  moral  death.  We  will  beat  down  their  vine- 
yard, destroy  its  hedge,  and  sow  it  with  salt.  We  will 
lay  the  whole  village  in  ashes."  That  was  the  purport 
of  their  sworn  purpose.     Their  weapons  of  warfare 


234  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston.  ' 

were  stones,  clubs,  knives  and  cannon  balls.  The 
great  war  between  good  and  evil,  between  right  and 
wrong  was  then   instituted. 

Passing  by  vessels  of  an  inferior  class,  a  naval 
ship  of  the  United  States  became  an  antagonist.  The 
Captain's  demands  were  well  defined,  and  his  great 
boast  was,  that  whoever  opposed  him,  would  find  his 
vessel  to  be  like  fire.  So  while  his  men  smashed  in 
the  windows  of  private  houses,  and  imminently  im- 
periled life,  he  rode,  rough-shod,  over  the  heads  of 
the  rulers  of  the  land,  and  with  the  bold  front  of 
Apollyon,  asserted  his  right  and  his  power  to  inocu- 
late the  people  with  physical  and  moral  death  ;  and 
so  far  succeeded,  that  the  acclamations  of  triumph 
rent  the  air,  and  were  heard  in  the  distance.* 

In  this  great  crisis  of  the  nation,  missionaries 
were  wanted  that  counted  not  their  lives  dear  unto 
themselves. 

The  nation  saw  that  there  was  a  wide,  impassable 
gulf  between  the  spirit  of  the  two  parties. 

There  were  those,  on  the  one  hand,  who  hissed 
the  idea  of  having  Christianity  engrafted  on  this  wild 
stock ;  whose  aim  was  to  crush  Christianity  in  the 
bud ;  who  would  blast  with  the  breath  of  their  nostrils 
everyone  that  opposed  their  measures ;  and  who 
claimed  ignorance  and  sin  to  be  the  only  natural  in- 
heritance of  these  islanders,  leaving  disease  and  death 
to  follow  in  the  train,  unthought  of,-  and  uncared  for. 

*1871.  Within  the  past  year,  I  have  heard  it  related,  that  it 
fame  to  pass  in  after  years,  that  the  commander  of  that  naval  ship, 
abundantly  reaped  as  he  had  sown.  In  the  intensity  of  his  sufferings, 
and  in  the  wild  agony  of  his  mind,  it  became  his  wish  that  no  woman 
had  ever  been  born  into  the  world.  His  loving  and  self-denying  sister, 
who  ministered  to  him  in  his  extremity,  said  to  him,  "But  I  am  a 
woman,  and  your  mother  is  a  woman."  In  his  reply  he  said,  "Yuu 
two  are   exceptions.      I  do  not  include  you   in  my  wish." 


1870.  235 

On  the  other  hand,  there  were  those  who  opened 
up  to  them  happiness,  both  here  and  hereafter.  In- 
leading  them  to  virtue,  to  intelligence,  to  duty,  and 
to  God ;  standing  firmly  at  their  posts,  ready  to  seal 
their  teachings  with  their  blood. 

This  was  a  heathen  nation,  just  waking  into  life, 
and  seeing  men  as  trees  walking.  Not  the  tongues  of 
forty  missionaries,  if  they  possessed  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  Hawaiian  language,  and  the  eloquence  of 
angels,  could,  in  words,  have  so  vividly  portrayed  the 
contrast  between  the  spirit  of  the  world  and  the  spirit 
of  the  church,  between  selfishness  and  benevolence, 
as  did  those  hostilities.  God  made  the  wrath  of  man 
to  praise  Him,  and  the  remainder  thereof  he  re- 
strained. 

The  missionaries,  in  planting  churches  in  a  land 
deluged  with  the  iniquity  and  scum  of  ages,  made 
no  compromise  with  Evil.  The  government  of  the 
churches  required  them  to  be  wiped  from  impurity 
and  intemperance,  even  as  a  dish  is  wiped,  wiping 
it.  and  turning  it  upside  down. 

The  State,  Christian  in  its  front  and  bearing, 
noble  in  its  general  aspect,  has,  nevertheless,  compro- 
mised with  Evil.  By  receiving  money  into  the  public 
treasury  for  means  of  impurity,  and  of  intemperance 
in  drugs  and  alcoholic  drinks,  vultures  have  been  al- 
lowed to  prey  upon  the  very  vitals  of  society,  and  a 
fearful  blot  to  mar  the  beauty  of  the  escutcheon  of 
the  nation. 

May  the  afflatus  of  the  Almighty  lead  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly,  on  this  the  year  of  the  nation's  jubi- 
lee, to  present  Hawaii,  the  first-born  of  this  vast  Pa- 
cific, a  distinguished  spectacle  to  the  nations,  reveal- 
ing a  youthful  form,  in  symmetry,  in  beauty,  and  in 
glory,  clear  as  the  sun,  fair  as  the  moon,  and  as  ter- 
rible to  all  opposition  as  an  army  with  banners. 


ARTICLE    XIX. 

Blind  Bartimeus. 

THREE  days  after  landing,  the  queen  Kamamalu 
gave  the  sisters  a  promising  boy  twelve  years  of 
age,  as  a  pledge  on  her  part  that  their  friendship 
should  be  permanent.  He  loved  to  learn,  and  ac- 
quired knowledge  of  language  very  readily.  When 
at  any  time  he  saw  a  tear,  with  much  tenderness  lie 
ever  inquired  the  cause  by  asking,  "Is  it  love  to  vour 
father?"  He  often  sat  down  on  the  mat  by  my  side, 
and  said:  "Mrs.  Thurston,  talk  about  Jehovah,  talk 
about  Obookiah."  Every  new  thing  that  he  learned 
respecting  God  and  his  laws,  of  Jesus  and  of  heaven, 
he  imparted  to  others  in  the  village.  A  poor  blind 
man  listened,  and  at  once  believed  and  loved.  With- 
out further  instruction,  he  began  to  pray  and  exhort. 
Some  listened,  others  laughed,  and  others  mocked. 
The  King  had  him  before  him  to  see  what  the  gabbler 
had  to  say,  when  he  heard  so  good  a  confession  that 
he  was  sent  away  from  the  royal  presence  with  liberal 
approval. 

He  discontinued  eating  dog's  flesh,  live  vermin, 
and  other  loathsome  garbage,  of  which  the  natives 
are  ravenously  fond.  A  man  who  lived  under  the 
same  roof  with  him,  feeling  this  abstinence  as  a  tacit 
reproach  on  his  own  more  filth v  feeding,  became  in- 
dignant, and  complained  to  the  King,  that  his  blind 
neighbor,  under  the  influence  of  his  strange  religion, 
refused  to  taste  the  national  dainties  alluded  to  above, 
and  begged  that  he  might  be  punished,  to  compel  him 
to  do  as  other  people  did.     "The  man  is  right,"  re^ 

236 


1870.  237 

plied  Liholiho.  "I  will  not  suffer  him  to  be  harmed. 
I  intend  myself  soon  to  learn  the  new  system,  and 
to  leave  off  these  bad  ways.  Then  you  must  all  do 
the  same." 

After  the  blind  man  lovingly  received  his  first 
ideas  of  the  new  religion  from  juvenile  lips,  which 
was  in  the  early  part  of  1821,  he  exhibited  one  uni- 
form character.  He  would  be  seen  early  Sabbath 
morning,  without  hat  or  shoes,  without  pants  or  shirt, 
with  his  girdle  and  a  slight  kapa  thrown  around  his 
person,  with  a  staff,  a  long  beard,  sightless  eyes, 
and  diminutive  bending  form,  wending"  his  way  to 
the  missionaries'  house.  There  planting  himself  by 
the  gate  or  outer  door,  he  would  sit  long  in  medita- 
tion, waiting  for  a  passing  salutation.  I  have  known 
the  foreigner,  with  crowned  head  and  shod  feet,  with 
all  the  paraphernalia  of  dress  in  the  last  most  ap- 
proved fashion,  in  feelings  wither  into  insignificance 
before  his  love  and  devotion,  his  pathos  and  humility. 
Here  is  a  tame  specimen  of  what  he  often  expressed 
in  grimaces,  in  gestures,  and  in  words,  all  combined : — 

"Let  me  feel  your  hand.  Let  me  cling  to  it.  Let 
me  weep  over  it.  Let  me  express  the  feelings  that 
swell  my  heart.  The  glory  of  this  great  salvation  I 
owe  first  to  God,  and  then  to  you." 

He  was  the  first  marked  Christian  convert,  and 
became  the  blind  preacher  of  Maui,  so  distinguished 
for  ability,  fervor,  and  eloquence. 


ARTICLE    XX. 

Items,    Showing  What  Instrumentalities  Have  Been   Employed   in   Build- 
ing  up   This   Nation. 

UNDER  God,  the  people  of  these  Islands  are  in- 
debted to  Kamehameha  I.,  for  bringing  them 
all   under  one  Government: 

To  Obookiah.  for  first  touching  chords,  the  vibra- 
tions of  which,  with  ever  increasing  force  have  caused 
Jehovah  to  become  Hawaii's  God. 

To  Kamehameha  II.,  for  abolishing  idolatry,  and 
receiving  a  Protestant  Mission. 

To  Kamehameha  III.,  for  allowing  his  subjects 
to  hold  land  in  fee  simple,  for  a  written  Constitution 
of  Laws,  for  limiting  his  own  power,  and  enlarging 
that  of  his  subjects,  by  giving  them  the  elective  fran- 
chise, thereby,  through  their  own  representatives,  hav- 
ing a  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

To  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  for  reducing  a  verbal  dia- 
lect to  a  written  language,  and  for  letters  and  Chris- 
tianity. 

To  the  American  Bible  and  Truct  Societies,  for 
fertilizing  streams  through  the  land 

To  England,  France,  Belgium,  and  the  United 
States,  for  receiving  them  as  a  sister  nation  in  the 
constitution  of  nations  that  encircle  the  globe. 

To  Admiral  Thomas,  for  the  continued  independ- 
ence of  this  nation. 

And  to  Individual  Enterprise,  for  political  advice, 
for  educational  aid,  for  the  learned  professions,  for 
commerce,  the  arts,  and  agriculture. 

238 


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t 

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v***'  /OTtti\1 

%—r.    ////  |!  ll    l\\ 

§7/ 

■»   /       Jim 

1  M  II 

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■ 

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L  HB&. 

Mrs.  Persis  Goodale  (Thurston)  Tayloi 


ARTICLE    XXI. 

(Extract   from   a   Honolulu   Newspaper.) 
A   Rare   Entertainment. 

ON  Monday  evening  the  same  church  was  again 
filled  with  a  large  audience  to  listen  to  Mrs. 
Thurston's  Reminiscences  of  early  missionary  life. 
The  fact  that  she  was  one  of  the  pioneer  band,  which 
the  brig  Thaddeus  brought  out  in  1820,  that  she  was 
teacher  of  the  old  chiefs  and  that  she  was  to  read  her 
own  narrative,  created  much  curiosity  to  hear  her. 
Although  nearly  seventy-five  years  of  age,  she  exe- 
cuted her  task,  which  occupied  one  hour  and  a  half, 
without  faltering,  and  in  a  clear  voice,  which  could 
be  heard  in  every  part  of  the  house. 

The  narrative  commenced  with  the  touching  story 
of  Obookiah,  the  young  Hawaiian  who  went  to  Amer- 
ica to  learn  of  true  Christianity  that  he  might  return 
and  teach  his  countrymen.  He  and  three  or  four 
other  Hawaiians  were  taught  in  the  mission  school 
in  Cornwall,  Connecticut.  It  was  their  arrival  and 
appeal  to  Christians  in  America  that  led  those  who 
embarked  in  the  brig  Thaddeus  to  devote  themselves 
to  missions,  against  the  remonstrances  of  their  rela- 
tives. So  eager  were  some  of  the  pioneer  band  to 
leave,  that  one  or  two  or  them  broke  off  in  the  midst 
of  their  college  course  at  Yale,  that  they  might  join 
in  the  novel  expedition.  Mrs.  T.  narrated  some  inci- 
dents about  the  young  King  Liholiho,  Kaahumanu 
and  other  chiefs,  which  were  new  and  interesting. 
She  and  her  husband,  the  late  Asa  Thurston,  having 
been  the  teachers  of  these  noted  chiefs,  she  had  op- 
portunities which  few  of  the  missionaries  enjoyed  to 
collect  facts  about  them.  Her  narrative  was  made  up 
of  short  anecdotes,  so  minute  in  detail  and  so  touching 

239 
17 


240  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

in  pathos,  that  they  awakened  the  deepest  interest  in 
her  hearers.  Among  them  was  the  story  of  blind 
Bartimeus, — the  conversion  of  John  Ii — a  royal  feast 
in  1820,  when  the  young  king  brought  a  luaucd  dog 
into  the  missionary's  house,  sat  down  and  asked  them 
to  join  in.  The  story  of  the  venerable  John  Young 
and  Isaac  Davis,  the  counsellors  of  the  great  Kame- 
hameha,  under  whose  advice  and  assistance  he  had 
conquered  the  group,  was  very  touching,  as  was  that 
of  Keopuolani,  the  wife  and  mother  of  kings.  In 
connection  with  the  remarks  relating  to  this  heroic 
chiefess,  Mrs.  T.  exhibited  a  silk  shawl  presented  to 
her  by  Kaahumanu  forty-four  years  ago — a  beautiful 
memento  of  a  noble  Hawaiian,  whose  memory  will 
always  be  dear  to  those  who  knew  her.  Not  the 
least  interesting  was  the  story  of  the  erection  of  the 
first  framed  house  on  Hawaii,  which  the  Board  of 
Missions  had  sent  out.  The  erection  of  framed  houses 
had  been  tabooed,  but  woman's  influence  prevailed 
with  the  king,  and  he  allowed  the  tabu  to  be  set  aside 
and  the  house  to  be  built.  The  closing  remarks,  in 
which  she  described  the  fierce  opposition  encountered 
by  the  early  missionaries  from  base  foreigners — whom 
she  termed  "bipeds  of  the  genus  homo" — was  one  of 
the  most  withering  and  deserved  rebukes  ever  uttered 
by  woman's  lips.  The  exercises  occupied  one  hour 
and  three-quarters,  and  the  interest  of  the  audience 
seemed  unabated  at  its  close. 

Before  adjourning,  His  Excellency  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  rose  and  suggested  that  a  collec- 
tion be  taken  up  for  the  two  remaining  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries —  Mrs.  Thurston  and  Mrs.  Whitney  —  to 
which  call  the  congregation  generously  responded  by 
contributing  the  sum  of  $350.  Two  verses  of  the 
missionary  hymn  closed  one  of  the  most  interesting 
meetings  ever  held  in  Honolulu. 


ARTICLE    XXII. 

Home. 

HOW  can  I  write  reminiscences  of  fifty  years  ago, 
without  turning  to  a  father's  home?  It  was  in 
a  rural  spot,  twenty-five  miles  west  of  Boston. 

His  house  was  red,  its  heavy  color  enlivened  by 
deep  trimmings  of  white.  Two  chimneys,  at  a  due 
distance  from  each  other,  issued  from  the  roof  be- 
side the. ridgepole.  It  was  two  stories  high,  the  two 
tiers  of  windows  exhibiting  the  taste  of  modern  archi- 
tecture. 

Enter  the  massive  front  door,  of  ample  width, 
turn  to  the  left,  and  you  will  find  two  front  rooms 
with  their  chambers.  In  those  rooms,  cast  your  eyes 
aloft,  not  very  high,  and  you  will  see  well-seasoned 
beams  that  speak  of  perpetuity.  Look  on  the  floor 
by  its  walls,  and  you  will  see  that  the  beams  whereon 
the  house  rests,  project  sufficiently  to  accommodate 
childhood  with  seats.  Speak  reverently  of  those  an- 
cient, well-seasoned  beams.  They  were  laid  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  Queen 
Anne  reigned  over  the  Colonies,  and  they  remain  to 
this  day.  The  sixth  generation,  in  a  direct  line,  is 
there  now  being  trained  for  earth  and  for  heaven. 
It  is  an  entire  family  of  five  orphaned  children  of 
Hawaiian  birth.  The  strong  frame-work  of  those 
four  rooms  formed  a  nucleus  to  a  large  farm-house, 
whose  doors  in  my  childhood  years,  used  to  be  counted 
up  as  fifty-one. 

That  antique  western  chamber,  with  two  win- 
dows, through  which  to  view  the  splendor  of  the  set- 

241 


242  Life  of  Lucy  G.   Thurston. 

ting  sun,  with  a  chimney,  and  a  closet  filled  with 
wood,  to  give  warmth  to  solitude  beneath  the  reign 
of  a  long,  bleak  winter,  was  my  sanctum  sanctorum. 

Our  large  family  was  made  eligible  for  life's 
work,  by  having  its  thrift  depend  on  the  activities  of 
every  individual.  We  were  a  world  by  ourselves, 
under  the  reign  of  one  united  head,  whose  natures 
and  whose  titles  were  All  Power  and  All  Love,  the 
father  and  the  mother. 

The  daughters  were  linked  with  an  active,  dis- 
creet mother,  to  give  with  their  own  hands  comfort 
and  happiness  to  all  the  departments  of  domestic  life. 
They  were  made  familiar  with  wielding  every  imple- 
ment of  the  kitchen,  and  introduced  into  the  mysteries 
of  preparing  both  the  substantial  and  the  elegant  com- 
forts of  a  farmer's  table ;  the  limited  places  from  which 
to  select  materials,  being  the  cellar,  the  garret,  the 
pantry,  the  dairy,  the  garden  and  the  orchard.  They 
plied  the  needle,  having  in  that  line  of  labor  to  ac- 
commodate themselves  to  the  warmth  of  summer, 
and  the  rigors  of  winter.  "They  sought  wool  and 
flax,  and  worked  willingly  with  their  hands."  The 
comparison  of  "days  being  swifter  than  a  weaver's 
shuttle,"  was  to  them  very  impressive,  because  so  well 
understood.  "They  were  not  afraid  of  snow  for  their 
house,  for  all  were  clothed"  with  woolen  of  home 
manufacture.  There  were  several  of  the  family  whose 
business  it  was  to  work,  and  whose  pastime  it  was  to 
study.  And  industry  enabled  them  to  do  a  day's  work 
at  each. 

An  efficient  father  led  forth  his  sons  to  the  toils 
of  the  day.    In  the  summer,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn- 


1870.  243 

ing,  the  family  breakfast  was  taken  with  dispatch, 
as  if  to  go  forth  to  meet  the  king  of  day.  Yet  he, 
who  officiated  as  priest  of  that  house,  under  most 
pressing  employments  never  thought  of  omitting  the 
customary  reading  of  a  chapter  in  course  from  the 
large  family  Bible,  placed  on  the  small  stand  before 
him,  within  the  family  circle.  Then  they  all  arose 
and  stood,  while  he  laid  incense  upon  the  family  altar, 
always  with  a  full  volume  of  voice.  Commencing 
business  thus  early,  and  laboring  late  in  the  decline 
of  day,  five  seasons  of  refreshments  were  called  for ; 
but  the  meal  of  meals,  for  variety,  and  for  social  in- 
tercourse, was  at  noon-tide  leisure. 

At  a  given  signal  the  laborers  from  abroad  hast- 
ened to  exchange  meridian  rays  for  the  shades  of 
home.  There  from  every  point  was  a  reunion  of  the 
whole  family  band.  At  the  announcement  of  "Din- 
ner is  ready,"  the  united  head  stood  side  by  side,  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  large  oval  dining  table,  the  chil- 
dren promptly  followed  into  line,  the  sons  standing 
at  the  right  hand  of  the  father,  according  to  their 
ages,  the  youngest  son  and  the  youngest  daughter 
completing  the  oval  circle,  standing  at  the  foot  of 
the  table. 

Then  the  father  spread  forth  his  hands  and  led 
in  an  exercise  of  devotion  called  "asking  a  blessing," 
thus : — 

"Almighty  Father,  command  thy  blessing  upon 
this  food.  Give  it  strength  to  strengthen  us.  Give 
us  grace  to  enable  us  to  live  suitably  under  all  our 
enjoyments,  temporal  and  spiritual,  for  the  Redeem- 
er's sake." 

"Order  is  Heaven's  first  law,"  could  not  be  found 
written  on  the  walls.  But  at  a  glimpse,  the  spirit  was 
seen.     At  that  table,  the  mother  wras  mistress  of  the 


244  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

carving"  knife  and  of  ceremonies,  receiving'  aid  from 
her  elder  children.  The  father,  at  liberty,  led  oft  in 
conversation,  by  remark,  by  recital,  or  by  instruction 
as  the  case  might  be.  Although  he  was  puritanical 
in  his  religion,  after  the  straitest  sect,  yet  neither  that, 
nor  the  heaviest  toils  of  life  prevented  him  from  be- 
ing prone,  at  the  noon-tide  season,  to  pass  into  the 
lighter  regions  of  anecdote  and  hilarity.  His  family 
followed  hard  after  him.  But  they  were  careful  not 
to  raise  sails,  till  he  had  first  raised  a  wind.  With 
delighted  feelings,  eye  met  eye,  and  heart  met  heart. 
And  that  allowed,  chastened  exuberance  of  mirthful- 
ness,  was  not  without  its  use  in  causing  the  bones  to 
become  moistened  with  marrow. 

An  air  of  gravity  assumed  by  the  father,  was, 
as  in  a  mirror,  reflected  from  every  face.  After  a 
moment's  pause,  they  simultaneously  arose,  and  stood 
with  precision  and  reverence.  The  father's  voice  was 
again  heard,  leading  in  a  second  exercise  of  devotion, 
called,  "returning  thanks,"  thus : — 

"Source  of  all  being  and  happiness,  we  thank 
Thee  for  life  with  its  surrounding  blessings.  We 
thank  Thee  for  this  social  repast.  We  thank  Thee 
for  the  day  and  means  of  grace,  and  the  hopes  of 
immortal  life  beyond  the  grave.  Through  Testis 
Christ." 

Thus  the  young  beings  of  that  family,  in  animal, 
in  social,  and  in  spiritual  wants,  were  so  fed  from 
their  father's  store-house,  that  they  gradually  returned 
to  the  renewed  duties  of  the  afternoon,  with  feelings 
prepared  to  say  to  the  children  of  dissipation.  "You 
may  go  and  dance  at  balls,  but  we'll  enjoy  our  friends 
at  home." 

In   that   region   in  those   days   it    was   the   public 


1870.  245 

opinion  ;  dividing-  a  father's  property,  where  sex  alone 
was  the  guide,  that  it  took  two  daughters  to  poise 
'against  one  son.  At  the  same  time  it  was  a  matter 
of  consideration  and  forethought,  that  the  son  be 
trained  to  an  employment  that  would  secure  to  him 
the  comforts  and  happiness  of  life.  No  such  provi- 
sion was  made  for  a  daughter.  His  time,-  when  he 
came  to  be  of  age,  was  of  value,  and  turned  into  dollars. 
When  the  daughter  came  of  age,  the  line  of  freedom 
was  not  observed,  but  she,  like  a  child  at  home,  lived 
on  and  labored  without  remuneration.  No  calcula- 
tion whatever  was  made  for  her,  but  that,  according 
to  the  constitution  of  things,  some  one  of  the  sterner 
sex  would  take  her  by  the  hand,  and  lead  her  fortli 
into  the  mazes  of  human  life. 

Under  such  influences,  a  character  was  manufac- 
tured not  very  far  from  my  father's  dwelling.  She 
belonged  to  a  family  of  substance  and  position.  The 
market  was  supplied,  and  she  was  left,  without  form- 
ing any  new  ties  of  life  for  herself,  which  would  draw 
forth  her  activities  and  affections,  and  engage  her  in 
the  commerce  of  life  with  her  fellows.  Her  parents, 
too,  died,  and  she  was  left  alone  to  lay  her  hands  upon 
their  cold  grave-stones.  Without  any  aim  in  life, 
without  and  self-reliance,  she  was  thrown  back  upon 
herself,  to  sustain  the  full  responsibility  of  her  own 
existence.  The  fierce  ordeal  caused  the  juices  of  social 
life  to  be  dried  up.  She  avoided  society,  even  public 
worship.  As  a  natural  result,  when  she  was  seen, 
her  manner  and  dress  appeared  odd.  One  chamber, 
her  paternal  inheritance,  left  her  in  her  father's  will, 
till  the  day  of  her  marriage  —  which  never  came  — 


246  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

that  one  chamber  was  her  refuge.  When  she  ceased 
to  breathe,  came  her  funeral,  and  mother  Earth  re- 
ceived her   child  of  vacant  life  to  her  silent  bosom. 

There  was  another  maiden  lady  near  my  father's 
house  in  another  direction.  She  was  independent,  en- 
terprising, and  self-reliant.  The  tendrils  of  her  nature 
clasped  humanity.  T.he  afflicted  knew  where  to  go 
for  sympathy,  and  the  perplexed  for  counsel.  She  laid 
her  soft  hand  upon  the  heads  of  childhood,  her  still 
softer  voice  of  love  fell  upon  their  hearts  as  they  rose 
up  and  called  her  blessed.  She  was  eminently  a  lady 
of  mark.  Every  lip  pronounced  her  name  with  re- 
spect and  deference,  as  being  one  whom  they  delighted 
to  honor. 

In  the  year  1822,  soon  after  the  printing  of  the 
first  sheets  of  the  spelling  book  in  the  Hawaiian  lan- 
guage, a  missionary  was  sitting  at  a  table  in  his  own 
house,  with  a  chief,  teaching  him  the  rudiments  of  his 
own  language.  The  chief  grasped  at  an  idea  he  wished 
to  communicate.  So  turning  to  his  attendants,  seated 
on  the  mat,  he  said :  "The  consonant  is  a  man,  the 
vowel  is  a  woman ;  put  them  together,  they  make 
something;  apart  they  are  nothing  at  all."  We,  who 
are  more  thoroughly  instructed,  know  that  a  vozvel 
makes  a  perfect  syllable  by  itself.  It  is  a  consonant 
only,  that  makes  nothing  at  all,  standing  alone. 

At  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  my  father's 
house,  by  an  Unfrequented  pathway,  there  was  a  dis- 
trict school  of  forty  or  fifty  pupils,  gathered  from  a 
section  of  agriculturists.  In  morals  and  intelligence 
it  was  No.  1.  There  respect  to  superiors  was  dili- 
gently inculcated.  Boys  bowed,  and  girls  curtsied. 
In  the  morning,  as  the  teacher  was  seen  to  approach 


1870.  247 

the  school-house,  the  scholars  were  at  their  seats, 
rank  and  file,  standing  ready  to  receive  their  teacher 
with  an  obeisance,  as  they  would  have  done  to  a  king. 
He  returned  the  salutation.  This  was  the  greeting  of 
a  new  day.  During  all  its  hours,  no  scholar  retired 
from,  or  returned  to  his  presence,  without  a  similar 
act  of  courtesy.  Did  a  scholar  come  before  the  school 
to  read  a  composition,  or  speak  a  piece?  He  knew 
as  by  instinct  what  was  the  Alpha  and  what  the 
Omega.  And  the.  beautiful  result  of  that  school  of 
nurtured  virtue,  was  seen  along  the  streets  by  chil- 
dren and  youth  always  respectfully  recognizing  their 
friends   and   superiors. 

An  accomplished  teacher,  (of  blessed  memory), 
taught  his  pupils,  in  that  school,  to  love  learning  for 
its  own  sake,  and  when  school  was  closed  to  the  higher 
classes  for  nine  months,  until  another  winter  revolved 
upon  them,  he  bade  them,  at  their  own  homes,  search 
for  knowledge  as  for  hidden  treasure,  and  to  pursue 
a  daily  course  of  study,  even  without  a  teacher's  aid. 
And  I  know  that  under  his  influence,  some  of  his 
scholars  thus  spent  all  the  time  they  could  command. 

The  first  class  of  girls  had  passed  through  the 
higher  rules  of  Adams'  Arithmetic.  At  the  examina- 
tion, the  tall,  educated  minister  stood  up,  and  made 
an  address  according  to  custom,  to  the  reverently- 
standing  scholars.  During  the  exercise,  a  blush  was 
seen  to  pass  over  the  cheeks  of  the  girls  of  the  arith- 
metic class.  The  words  dropped  were  simply  these: 
"There  is  no  use  in  girls  going  as  far  in  arithmetic, 
other  than  setting  themselves  up  as  candidates  for 
the  wives  of  merchants." 

There  wras  one  there  who  had  higher  aspirations 
than   to  make    education   a   matrimonial   ticket.      She 


248  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

had  been  taught  by  the  schoolmaster  mentioned  above, 
that  daughters  had  been  endowed  with  minds  capable 
of  culture ;  and  that  intellectual  attainments  raised 
them  in  the  scale  of  being.  But,  in  female  education, 
would  her  father,  the  Deacon,  go  ahead  of  his  min- 
ister? It  was  not  to  be  expected.  She  wished  to  go 
forty  miles  away.  And  nothing  would  satisfy  her 
short  of  hearing  a  negative  come  from  the  lips  of  her 
decided  father.  So,  choosing  a  calm  hour,  replete  with 
home  enjoyment,  she  stood  behind  his  chair  of  repose, 
so  as  to  elude  the  penetrating  eye  of  a  bluff  refusal. 

She  then  summed  up  all  her  resolution,  and  said : 
"Father,  I  have  a  strong  desire  to  attend  Bradford 
Academy.  May  I?"  A  response  came,  not  anticipated. 
He  was  pleased, — was  moved, — granted  every  indul- 
gence asked, — and  from  that  moment  the  love  of  a 
father  for  a  daughter  expanded  into  the  bright  hues 
of  deep  respect.  He  allowed  influences  to  be  exerted 
over  him,  and  his  mellowed  character  to  be  moulded 
in  a  manner  very  touching. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four,  the  most  important 
proposition  of  the  daughter's  life  was  laid  before  her. 
By  a  written  communication  she  learned  that  her 
father  felt  that  "he  had  consecrated  her  to  God,  and 
though  such  a  separation  would  be  most  trying  to 
nature,  yet  the  thing  proceeded  from  the  Lord;  his 
will  be   done." 

She  inquired :  "Do  you  advise  me  to  go  for  life 
to  a  foreign  heathen  land."  He  whose  casting  vote 
had  always  decided  the  important  questions  of  her 
life,  for  the  first  time  was  silent.  "Lucy,"  he  said, 
"you  must  choose  your  own  pathway  in  life.  It  is 
for  yourself  to  walk  in,  apart  from  your  father." 


1870.  249 

Then  she  stood  on  the  mount  of  independence, 
with  full  liberty  to  dispose  of  herself.  Contiguous  to 
this  eminence  lay  the  deep,  dark  vale  of  crushing  re- 
sponsibility and  agonizing  thought.  It  was  a  salutary 
lesson  to  her,  that,  unaided,  she  there  tarried  and 
counted  the  cost.  Alone  with  the  Savior,  she  made 
a  decision :  where  he  led,  however  dark  the  pathway, 
she  would  follow,  to  stand  or  to  fall.  The  burden 
was  removed  from  her  mind.  With  an  elevation  of 
soul,  with  cheerful,  unmoved  feelings,  she  coupled, 
by  contrast,  the  friends  and  country  of  home,  and  the 
privations  and  dangers  of  a  pilgrim's  life. 

The  day  she  left  her  father's  house,  he  had  eight 
married  children,  and  eight  sons  and  daughters-in- 
law.  Of  that  sixteen  in  the  home  circle,  she,  who 
took  her  life  in  her  hand,  and  went  to  the  heathen, 
is  now  the  sole  survivor. 

To  have  her  early  friends  restored  to  her,  in  all 
the  vigor  of  immortal  youth,  one  more  beautiful 
change  in  her  alone  is  wanting, — going  to  sleep  on 
earth,  and  waking  up  in  heaven. 


ARTICLE    XXIII. 

The  Voyage  of  Voyages. 

I    HAVE  thus  long  veiled  this  experience  within  my 
own  family.     When  I  am  gone,  withholding  names, 
let  it  come  in  as  part  of  my  life's  history. 

During  the  last  fifty  years,  I  have  taken  five  voy- 
ages, each  of  eighteen  thousand  miles  in  length  more 
or  less.      In  looking  back  over  them  all,  one  stands 


250  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

out  very  prominently.  It  proved  to  be  a  rare  school. 
Deeply  expensive,  almost  revoltingly  so.  But  the  ac- 
quirements were  worth  all  their  cost.  The  branches 
pursued  were,  poverty  of  spirit,  forgiveness  of  in- 
juries, self-control  in  bearing  one's  share  of  the  ills 
of  life,  forming  the  hearts  of  childhood  to  piety,  and 
ultimately  rejoicing  in  tribulation.  As  a  straw,  thrown 
into  a  stream  will  show  the  course  of  the  current,  so, 
now  and  then,  through  a  loophole,  I  give  a  partial 
glimpse  of  the  manner  in  which  lessons  were  im- 
pressed on  the  mind.  As  there  was  neither  name  nor 
book  to  its  belongings,  I  designate  it  from  what  it 
was  to  me. 

SECTION    I. 

From  the  Time  of   Sailing  to  the  First  Port. 

(New  York  to  Valparaiso,  with  two  Youngest  Children.) 

My  dear  daughter  Persis: — 

I  learned  more  of  human  nature  on  my  voyage 
than  I  ever  learned  before,  since  I  had  existence.  You 
know  how  the  27th  Psalm  became  endeared  to  us  as 
being  the  last  we  read  at  family  prayers.  Before  the 
voyage  was  ended,  I  read  it  again  and  again,  feeling 
as  if  every  verse  had  been  prophetic.  "The  Lord  is 
my  light  and  my  salvation,  whom  shall  I  fear?"  etc. 

And  did  the  captain  report  that  he  had  incurred 
more  risk  in  defending  and  upholding  me  than  ever 
before?  What  chivalry!  For  a  time  that  was  true. 
May  blessings  descend  an  hundred-fold  on  his  head, 
and  on  those  most  dear  to  him,  for  every  effort  thus 
made.  Two  months  from  seven  may  thus  happily  be 
deducted.  Engrave  it  in  marble,  and  whisper  it  in 
the  ear  of  the  Most  High.    But  now  we  are  approach- 


1870.  251 

ing  inclement  weather,  and  furious  winds.  Sociality 
i  •  suspended.  Sympathy  is  withheld.  Aid  is  with- 
drawn. What  of  that?  From  persons'  in  such  situa- 
tions, must  I  require  continued  evidence  of  their  con- 
tinued friendship  to  be  at  ease?  Far  be  it  from  me. 
And  so  I  counted  off  the  days  and  nights,  and  dreamed 
that  to-morrow  would  be  as  yesterday.  True,  I  en- 
countered well-aimed  arrows  dipped  in  poison.  But 
I  was  sustained  by  an  inward  consciousness  of  striv- 
ing to1  do  what  was  right ;  and  while  they  diminished 
my  happiness,  they  failed  to  pierce  my  heart.  Yet 
that,  too,  was  to  come,  and  from  a  source  so  unex- 
pected and  aggravating,  that  it  seemed  to  wither  my 
very  being.  I  was  not  in  the  state  of  David  and  his 
men  at  Ziklag,  who  wept  till  they  had  no  more  power 
to  weep.  .1  wept  till  I  had  no  power  to  refrain  from 
weeping.  Oh,  could  I  have  forgotten  memories  the 
most  precious  and  tender. 

After  being  out  some  two  months,  for  several 
weeks  we  had  most  tempestuous  weather.  For  three 
days  a  gale  continued  with  unabated  fury.  At  one 
time  our  situation  was  such  as  I  never  before  then 
witnessed.  As  the  sailors  express  it,  the  ship  was 
wallowing  in  the  trough  of  the  sea ;  and  as  the  poets 
express  it.  the  waves  were  running  mountain  high. 
Behold  one  of  them,  not  in  the  distance,  not  ahead, 
but  in  looking  up  at  the  very  side  of  the  vessel,  which 
in  her  tremendous  rolls,  would,  on  the  lee  side,  dip 
the  water  into  the  ship  from  over  her  very  bulwarks. 
A  depth  of  it  tumultuously  crossed  and  recrossed  the 
sky-light,  as  I  never  before  beheld.  What  can  they 
be  doing  on  deck?  I  do  not  hear  the  waves  thrown 
over,  and  yet  the  water  rushes  to  and  fro,  as  if  the 
very  ocean  was  let  loose  upon  us.     The  door  of  the 


252  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

companion  way  was  closed  and  fastened,  but  as  the 
cover  happened  to  be  drawn  off  sufficiently  to  admit 
my  head,  I  went  up  the  stairs  to  take  a  peep,  and  at 
once  beheld  the  situation  of  the  ship,  and  the  sub- 
limity of  the  ocean.  The  liability  of  a  wave  soon 
rendered  it  necessary  to  close  the  companion  way 
entirely,  and  I  reluctantly  withdrew  from  a  view  of 
the  ocean  in  all  its  strength  and  majesty,  to  my  dark 
abode  below.  The  captain,  too,  was  about  wearing 
the  ship,  in  a  gale  of  wind,  one  of  the  most  dangerous 
maneuvers  there  is  performed.  However,  nothing  was 
experienced  from  it  of  a  nature  more  serious  than 
that  of  a  pitcher  of  water,  which  was  standing  in  its 
assigned  place  ever  since  being  aboard,  discharged 
its  whole  contents  onto  our  books,  and  our  largest 
chest,  standing  within  cleats,  jumped  out  of  its  fast- 
enings, turned  a  somerset,  had  its  top  torn  off,  and 
lay  on  its  side  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs.  Thus  the 
day  dawned  upon  us.  The  captain  remarked  at  the 
breakfast  table,  that  if  he  had  not  tacked  the  ship 
before  that  time,  its  decks  would  have  been  entirely 
swept. 

Then  there  was  a  day  of  disasters.  In  going 
from  the  companion  way  to  the  house  on  deck,  there 
was  quite  a  little  space  to  pass,  where  there  was  noth- 
ing to  lay  hold  of,  to  enable  one  to  maintain  a  per- 
pendicular position,  when  very  rolling,  wet  and  slip- 
pery. There  the  strong  arm  of  the  practical  sailor 
was  appreciated.  Not  thus  accommodated,  the  result 
was,  I  fell  and  was  sent  down  to  the  lee  side  of  the 
ship  with  a  velocity  and  force,  of  which  I  had  not 
before  conceived.  I  struck  upon  my  chest  against 
the  stairs  which  led  to  the  upper  deck.  At  first  it 
affected  me  very  much.  I  enveloped  myself  in  flan- 
nel, and   kept  in  my  berth  ;  but  by  night   I   found  it 


1870.  253 

difficult  to  bring  a  long  breath,  or  make  an  effort  to 
help  myself.  The  next  day  I  was  about,  appearing 
as  usual. 

In  going  up  to  the  same  meal,  in  just  the  same 
place,  a  strong  active  man,  a  passenger,  fell,  and  was 
considerably  injured  by  being  sent  across  the  deck. 
He,  too,  lodged  against  the  stairs.  Then  he  was  laid 
up  in  his  berth.  Since  the  gale  his  wife  and  children 
had  kept  their  room.  Now  she  was  called  to  make 
efforts.  But  before  the  day  was  out,  she  fell  with 
great  force,  her  eye  coming  in  contact  with  one  cor- 
ner of  a  chest.  The  eye  became  very  much  inflamed, 
and  the  parts  around  looked  frightfully  bruised ;  but 
she  made  the  best  of  it,  bound  it  up,  and  spent  most 
of  the  night  in  wakefulness  and  effort,  to  prevent  her 
children  being  thrown  from  the  berth. 

Said  the  captain  to  a  passenger,  "You  look  ten 
years  older  than  you  have  done.  The  howling  of  the 
wind,  the  groaning  and  creaking,  and  rolling  of  the 
vessel,  the  clashing  of  the  waves,  and  our  running, 
and  hallooing,  and  pulling  ropes,  has  frightened  you. 
Be  of  good  courage.  It  is  time  enough  for  you  to 
be  discouraged  when  you  see  that  I  am." 

It  was  in  that  extremity  that  I  was  singled  out 
and  disciplined  by  finding  myself  silently  imprisoned 
under  lock  and  key.  No  anger  or  indignation  crossed 
my  mind  to  bear  me  up,  but  I  felt, — I  felt  crushed. 
I  knocked,  and  knocked,  and  vainly  knocked,  to  ob- 
tain release.  There  were  two  doors  between  me  and 
my  children,  who,  with  others  belonging  to  the  sec- 
ond table,  were  at  their  evening  meal.  They  all 
thought  the  thumping  was  outside  on  the  upper  deck. 


254  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

And  others  happened  to  be  in  various  parts  of  the 
ship.  After  a  lapse  of  time,  the  steward  returned  to 
his  pantry,  which  was  on  the  same  aisle  opposite  my 
prison.  I  called  to  him  and  he  released  me.  I  soon 
returned  with  the  children  through  the  darkness  and 
howling  of  the  storm,  and  closed  the  door  in  my  little 
room  below.  But  such  a  sense  of  utter  desolation  I 
had  never  felt  before.  I  sat  down  and  wept  like  a 
child.  The  children  said,  "Mother,  what  makes  you 
cry  so?     Mother,  what  does  make  you  cry  so?" 

I  presume  before  two  hours  had  elapsed,  every 
soul  on  board  that  vessel  had  learned  the  humiliat- 
ing position  in  which  I  had  been  placed.  I  passed 
the  thing  in  silence,  but  an  irrepressible  curiosity 
sprung  up  among  the  pasengers,  as  to  "Who  did  it?" 
When  away  from  me,  my  children  were  incessantly 
plied  on  the  subject,  charged  with  having  done  it,  and 
found  no  end  in  being  questioned  and  cross-questioned 
respecting  it.  Nothing  short  of  sifting  things  to  the 
very  bottom  could  silence  their  persevering  inquiries. 
Thus  a  week  passed  away,  feelings  within,  and  ele- 
ments without,  seeming  to  be  in  strange  sympathy, 
all  antagonistic  to  repose.  Then  the  secret  came  out. 
The  author  of  the  deed,  to  pacify  feelings,  assumed 
its  responsibility. 

The  captain  himself  said  to  me  with  his  own  lips, 
"It  was  /  that  fastened  you  in  last  week.  I  did  it 
because  you  visited  the  place  before  the  second  table 
was  served." 

Mrs.  Thurston. — "After  the  gale  commenced,  I 
did  not  visit  the  place  between  serving  the  first  and 

second  tables,  until  I  had  the  example  of  Mrs. . 

You  considered  her  fastidious  to  a  fault.     Added  to 


1870.  255 

her  example,  I  had  your  own.  You  were  both  up 
there  under  the  same  roof.  I  and  my  children  were 
below,  and  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  pass  to  and 
from  the  companion  way  to  the  aisle  without  aid. 
So,  situated  as  I  was,  I  acted  as  I  did  from  a  sense 
of  duty." 

He  replied. — "If  any  apology  is  necessary  on  my 
part,  I  am  ready  to  make  it  now." 

Mrs.  T. — "No  feeling-  ever  crossed  my  heart  that 
I  was  acting-  in  a  manner  that  you  would  disapprove." 

I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you  who  it  was  that  thus 
watched  over  my  pathway  on  the  high  seas,  and  thus 
spurred  me  on  to  duty. 

The  next  day,  Divine  service  was  attended  in  the 
upper  cabin.     First  hymn  : — 

"When    overwhelmed    with    grief, 
My   heart  within  me  dies, 
Helpless,    and   far   from   all   relief, 
To  heaven  I  lift  my  eyes." 

Text:      "But  as  for  yon,   ye  meant  evil  against   me,   but   God   meant   it 
for  good." 

The  exercises  of  that  hour  were  very  consoling 
and  strengthening. 

I  dwelt  much  upon,  and  folded  to  my  bosom  the 
"Believer  and  his  Echo,"  particularly  the  following 
extract : — 

Believer:    "But  if  a  brother  hates  and  treats  me  ill? 

Must   I   return  him   good   and  love  him  still? 
Echo:  Love   him  still. 

Believer:    If  he   my   failings   watches  to  reveal, 

Must   I  his   faults   as   carefully   conceal? 
Echo:  As  carefully  conceal. 

Believer:   But  if  my  name  and  character  he  tears, 

And  cruel  malice  too,   too  plain  appears, 

And   when    I    sorrow   and    affliction    know. 

He   lores  to   add   unto  my  cup  of  woe, 

18 


256  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

In  this  uncommon,  this  peculiar  case, 
Sweet  Echo,  say,  must  I  still  love  and  bless  ? 

Echo:  Still  love  and  bless. 

Believer:   Whatever  usage  ill  I  may  receive, 

Must  I  still  patient  be,   and  still  forgive? 

Echo:  Still  patient  be,  and  still  forgive." 

This  first  act,  coming  as  it  did  butt  end  foremost, 
was  but  a  mere  fraction  of  what  followed  during  a 
period  of  five  months,  till  leaving  the  ship.  As  streams 
became  embittered,  I  was  driven  back  to  the  fountain. 
I  turned  to  the  Bible  as  I  never  did  before,  and,  as 
much  as  possible,  through  all  the  hours  of  the  day, 
made  it  my  companion  and  counsellor.  Then  it  was 
that  it  put  forth  peculiar  attractions  for  childhood. 
They  never  tired  of  hearing  it  read.  The)'  chose  it 
before  all  written  tales.  "Mother,  we  want  to  have 
you  read  more  to  us  from  the  Bible.  It  is  a  very 
interesting  book.  I  want  to  be  like  a  tree-,  planted 
by  the  rivers  of  water." 

Called,  as  it  were,  to  lay  my  hand  on  my  mouth, 
to  dress  in  sackcloth,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  it  has  been 
good  for  me  to  walk  in  the  vale  of  humiliation,  find- 
ing my  peace  of  mind  to  be  derived  from  deep  sub- 
mission and  forgiveness.  How  often  did  my  imagina- 
tion shoot  forward  to  my  long-sought  home,  with  the 
query,  what  will  it  be  to  me  when  I  reach  there? 
Mr.  Thurston — will  he  too  be  changed? — or  am  I 
so  changed  that  he  will  cease  to  look  upon  me  with 
an  eye  of  favor?  Such  were  my  sad  soliloquies,  and 
thus  I  wandered  on  until  I  reached  my  far-distant 
home,  the  husband  of  my  youth,  who  knew  more  of 
what  I  am  than  any  other  mortal,  and  whose  affec- 
tions have  survived  the  winds,  and  waves,  and  storms, 
and  a  succession  of  associates  for  so  many  years. 


1870.  257 

SECTION    II. 

While  Lying  in  the  Port  of   Valparaiso   where  our   Vessel   Stopped   a  few 
Weeks. 

On  reaching  port,  both  body  and  mind  became 
refreshed,  and  I  again  experienced  a  return  of  my 
wonted  firmness  and  elasticity  of  spirits.  Cold,  deso- 
lation, and  those  long  dreary  nights  of  darkness,  the 
contending  elements,  lashed  to  very  fury,  we  had  left 
far  in  the  distance.  We  again  came  in  contact  with 
a  busy  world.  We  partook  of  its  refreshments.  We 
saw  happy  countenances.  We  felt  the  renovating  in- 
fluence of  light  and  warmth.  In  my  inmost  soul  I 
longed  for  the  return  of  peace  and  harmony,  of  kind 
looks  and  kind  words.  If  any  advances,  if  any  con- 
cessions, if  any  forgiveness  was  wanted  on  my  part, 
I  would  most  cheerfully  make  them. 

In  this  spirit  I  wrote  the  captain  a  letter.  He 
made  no  reply  to  it,  but  it  led  to  a  long  conversation. 
The  best  apology  that  he  made  for  himself  was,  "That 
a  continued  dropping  would  wear  away  a  stone."  O, 
it  was  unfortunate  for  me.  most  unfortunate  for  him. 
that  he  chose  for  his  companion  and  most  intimate 
friend  one  who  most  unaccountably  became  my  avowed 
enemy.  He  held  the  position  of  Haman ;  /  of  Morde- 
cai.  He  had  already  reached  the  height  of  seriously 
meditating  driving-  me  from  the  cabin.  His  real  name 
I  spare,  and  distinguish  him  by  the  fictitious  appella- 
tion of  Haman. 

But  we  were  not  through  with  our  conversation. 
During  it,  we  were  standing  alone  on  the  farther  end 
of  the  upper  deck,  looking  out  upon  the  green  waters. 
His  criticisms  were  ever  grateful  to  my  private  ear. 
(At  the  public  table,  I  only  endured  them.)      I  now 


258  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

elicited  them,  so  as  to  know  wherein  I  had  offended. 
I  give  you  one  of  his  most  aggravated  specimens.  I 
was  told  before  sailing  that  we  should  have  a  stove. 
Provision  was  made  for  it.  The  other  three  vessels, 
that  sailed  about  the  same  time,  all  had  their  warm 
stoves.  In  one  there  was  even  a  second  stove,  one  in 
the  forecastle.  The  stove  in  our  ship  was  not  brought 
forward.  In  the  cold  region  of  Cape  Horn,  on  the  Sab- 
bath, public  services  were  held  in  the  upper  cabin.  It 
was  of  much  lower  temperature  up  there  than  between 
decks.  I  put  on  my  silk  quilted  bonnet,  made  for  the 
voyage,  to  go  up.  As  I  felt  the  cold,  and  as  it  was 
favorable,  too,  toward  concealing  the  tears  that  some- 
times trickled  down  my  cheeks  in  spite  of  all  my  ef- 
forts, I  retained  it  on  my  head.  I  did  not  consider, 
I  did  not  even  knozv,  that  it  would  be  construed  into 
disrespect,  and  that  the  "wearing  of  a  bonnet  zvas 
proper  only  for  a  meeting  lield  in  a  bar-room,  or  in 
a  bam." 

Capt. — "But  did  you  not  sec  how  cross  it  made 
me  look?" 

Mrs.  Thurston. — "No  idea  ever  passed  my  mind 
that  wearing  a  bonnet  during  a  religious  exercise  on 
the  Sabbath,  was  displeasing  to  you." 

After  mentioning  several  such  like  criticisms,  he 
added :  "So  when  I  saw  how  obstinate  you  were  and 
did  not  try  to  please  me,  I  let  you  go." 

Mrs.  T. — "My  own  conscience  bears  me  witness 
that  I  have  always  tried  to  please  you." 

If  it  is  any  apology  for  the  captain,  let  it  be  said, 
that  Hainan  in  the  cabin  considered  it  obstinacy,  be- 
cause I  did  not  do  as  they  thought  most  proper. 

Mrs.  T. — "What!  obstinacy  in  me,  because  I  did 


1870.  259 

not  shape  my  conduct  according  to  your  private  feel- 


v 


Capt. — "Well,  if  you  didn't  know  them,  then 
there  are  two  points  of  character  for  you  to  look  at 
at  the  same  time: — your  understanding  and  discern- 
ment, which  seems  to  be  even  surpassed  by  your  stu- 
pidity."    Thus  endeth  the  second  lesson. 

Soon  after  reaching-  Valparaiso,  the  captain  called 
on  a  distinguished  family  from  my  native  state,  pious, 
wealthy,  and  living  in  good  style.  The  lady,  through 
him,  extended  an  invitation  to  me,  to  come  with  my 
children  and  spend  the  time  in  her  family,  during  the 
weeks  the  ship  lay  in  port.  She  apologized  for  not 
inviting  a  second  family,  on  the  ground  that  she  had 
but  one  spare  bedroom.  The  captain  excused  me  for 
that  reason,  saying  it  would  be  inconvenient  for  me 
to  come  with  my  children,  and  only  have  one  room 
for  our  accommodation.  So,  he  added,  as  he  gave  it 
out  at  the   supper  table,   she  then   sent  an   invitation 

to  you,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  ,  to  come  and  occupy 

that  room.  There  was  nothing  for  me  to  say.  But 
it  was  natural  enough  for  me  to  compare  in  my  own 
mind,  one  bedroom  in  that  capacious  house,  with  the 
manner  in  which  we  were  then  stowed  away,  confined 
to  one  stateroom,  with  two  close  berths,  the  one  above 
the  other.  There  was  another  objection,  he  said,  to 
my  becoming  domesticated  in  her  family, — the  bold 
declivity  that  surrounded  their  premises.  There  would 
lie  danger  of  the  children's  rolling  down  it.  In  the 
fullness  of  my  heart,  I  now,  for  the  first  time,  ven- 
tured to  speak,  by  asking,  "Have  not  they  themselves 
children,  a  door-yard,  and  roads?"  "Yes,  but  they 
are  accustomed  to  their  situation.    Children  were  heed- 


260  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

less,  and  did  not  always  keep  within  proper  bounds." 

So  Mr.  and  Mrs.  went  ashore,  enjoyed  liberty 

and  action,  the  smiles  of  friendship,  and  the  refresh- 
ments of  the  table. 

To  get  the  cargo  ashore  was  the  business  of  the 
ship.  To  accomplish  this,  two  hatchways  to  go  down 
into  the  lower  hold  of  the  ship  must  needs  be  thrown 
open  and  kept  so.  One  of  them  was  within  a  few 
feet  of  the  door  of  my  stateroom,  and  hard  by  the 
stairs  which  led  to  the  deck.     While  the  business  was 

in  progress,  little  went  down  headlong  through 

one,  and  Mr.  with  the  baby  in  his  arms  through 

the  other,  to  the  imminent  peril  of  their  lives.  We 
will  go  on  deck  and  get  away  from  these  dangerous 
places.  But  on  deck  stands  a  machine  to  raise  the 
cargo  aloft  from  the  hold  of  the  ship.  "Mind  that 
machine!  By  its  powerful  whirl,  an  iron  appendage 
is  liable  to  be  thrown.  One  stroke  might  break  a  limb 
or  prove  fatal.     Mother,  take  care  of  your  children." 

In  the  fore  part  of  the  voyage,  the  captain  said, 
that  on  reaching  port,  I  should,  of  course  attend  a 
church  there.  I  remembered  what  he  had  formerly 
said  to  me.  Every  Sabbath  morning  I  laid  out  every 
article  necessary  for  me  and  for  my  children  in  going 
to  church.  The  first  Sabbath,  the  captain  went.  Not 
a  word  was  said  to  me  on  the  subject.  The  secdnd 
Sabbath  at  the  breakfast  table,  he  thus  expressed  him- 
self :  "I  am  going  to  church  to-day ;  who  else  is  go- 
ing?"    Mr.  and  Mr.  both  signified  that 

they  were  going. 

Capt. — "Are  you   going   Mrs.   Thurston?" 

Mrs.  T. — "If  it  is  convenient.  I  have  a  desire 
to  go." 


1870.  261 

Capt. — ''Shall  you  take  your  children  with  you?*' 

Mrs.  T. — "If  I  go  myself,  they  will  go,  of  course." 

Capt. — "I  don't  know  as  there  will  be  room  for 
all  that  will  be  going.  But  /  can  stay.  I  don't  care 
much  about  going.  There  will  be  a  sermon  here  this 
afternoon." 

Mrs.  T. — "I  can  stay,  sir;  T  am  not  particular 
about  going." 

Capt. — "Neither,  am  I  par-tic-u-lar."     (A  pause.) 

Mrs.  T. — "If  it  is  very  pleasant  to-day,  Mr. 

said  he  would  meet  me  at  the  landing  place." 

Capt. — "How  came  he  to  do  that?  He  didn't 
say  anything  to  me  about  it." 

Mrs.  T. — "It  was  a  very  natural  thing  for  him 
to  say  it." 

Capt.— "Why  natural?" 

Mrs.  T. — "Because  I  was  here  a  stranger  on 
shore,  and  he  had  become  acquainted.  It  was  a  very 
natural  thing  for  him  to  offer  to  accommodate  me," 

Capt. — "I  should  think  he  would  first  ascertain 
whether  /  was  going  ashore,  and  if  I  were,  it  would 
be  the  most  natural  thing  to  have  you  go  with  me." 

Mrs.  T. — "If  it  is  at  all  likely  to  rain,  he  will 
not  be  there." 

Capt. — "I  don't  know  whether  it  will  rain  or  not." 

Thus  I  left  the  breakfast  table  for  my  stateroom. 
"There,  children,  I  have  done  all  that  is  proper  for  me 
to  do  toward  going  to  church.  Our  persons  and  our 
things  are  ready.  I  said  to  the  captain  at  the  break- 
fast table  that  I  wished  to  go.     If  /  go,  he  stays.     I 

cannot  depend  on  finding  Mr.  .     We  must  stay 

where  we  are.     If  ever  we  meet  vour  father,  we  shall 


262  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

better  know  how  to  value  him.  But  stop,  let  your 
things  be  until  the  boat  is  off.  We  will  not  miss  of 
going  for  the  want  of  being  in  a  state  of  readiness. 
Perhaps  the  captain  will  yet  accompany  us." 

A  tap  was  heard  at  the  door.  It  was  the  stew- 
ard's   pleasant    face.      '' bid    me    say   to   you    he 

thought  it  would  not  rain." 

Mrs.  T. — "Say  to  him  that  I  stay  on  board." 

The  captain  and  others  went  ashore.  Great  in- 
quiry was  made  after  Mrs.  Thurston.  Why  didn't 
she  come  to  church?  Why  didn't  she  come  ashore? 
The  captain  assigned  as  a  reason,  that  she  was  afraid 
of  the  rain.     The  day,  however  was  a  very  fine  one. 

Thursday. — To-night  the  captain  said  to  me  at 
the  table,  that  he  should  not  advise  me  to  go  ashore 
again  if  I  had  twenty  invitations,  on  account  of  sick- 
ness in  the  city, — yellow  fever.  I  asked  him  if  there 
would  be  any  danger  in  going  to  church  on  the  Sab- 
bath. He  could  not  advise,  but  he  himself  should  stay 
on  board  the  next  Sabbath.  He  should  do  it  be- 
cause he  thought  he  could  spend  the  time  profitably 
on  board.     There  would  be  a  service  in  the  afternoon. 

Friday. — Capt. — "Mr.  is  sick  with  a  fever, 

confined  to  his  room." 

Mrs.  T. — "Do  our  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  go 

in  to  see  him?" 

Capt. — "Yes.  They  went  in  yesterday.  He  wished 
to  see  them.  Did  you  think  they  would  keep  off  at 
arm's  length?" 

Mrs.  T. — "I  was  thinking,  sir,  whether  it  would 
be  a  greater  exposure  for  me  to  go  directly  up  the 
hill   on   the    Sabbath   to   their   place   of   worship,   and 


1870.  263 

directly  back,  than  for  them  to  go  into  the  chamber 
of  sickness." 

Copt. — "You  must  act  for  yourself.  I  cannot  ad- 
vise you." 

Saturday  Night. — The  captain  brought  a  letter 
to  me  from  you,  to  my  stateroom  door.  A  ship  had 
just  arrived.  He  said :  "The  three  ladies  from  it  are 
all  going"  ashore  to-morrow  to  church.  P>ut  they  are 
all  young  married  people;  they  can  take  a  tramp." 
He  closed  the  door  abruptly,  without  giving'  oppor- 
tunity for  a  reply,  leaving  me  alone  to  couple  the  two 
obstacles  which  lay  in  my  pathway  toward  going 
ashore  and  to  church  the  next  day,  vis::  the  raging 
of  the  yellow  fever,  and  my  having  been  married  so 
long. 

Sunday. — Had  everything  in  readiness  for  going 
to  church.  Not  one  single  word  was  said  about  it. 
The  ladies  in  the  other  vessel  staid  there  three  days, 
and  all  went  to  church.  I  staid  there  three  weeks 
and  did  not  go  at  all. 

Some  of  the  passengers  on  board  absolutely  made 
a  laugh  of  the  story  of  the  yellow  fever,  so  gravely 
told  at  the  supper  table.  They  said:  "It  was  only  got 
up  to  keep  Mrs.  Thurston  on  board.  We  have  heard 
nothing  about  it.  Fever  in  the  city?  Yes,  unques- 
tionably. And  when  was  the  time  when  there  was 
none?"  I  never  undertook  to  ferret  out  the  matter, 
to  know  whether  these  remarks  were  just,  but  within 
cabin  walls  and  on  vessel's  deck,  in  the  use  of  my 
own  eyes  and  ears,  I  saw  the  captain,  steward,  and 
passengers  come  and  go  as  convenience  and  inclina- 
tion prompted ;  children  led  ashore  to  be  vaccinated, 
without  any  more  reference  to  the  yellow  fever  than 
to  the  plague. 

Afternoon. — The  passengers  from  the  other  ship 


264  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

came  on  board  to  attend  service.  The  three  ladies 
took  seats  on  the  settee  in  the  cabin,  where  religious 
exercises  were  to  be  held. 

Mrs.  T. — "Will  you  take  off  your  bonnets, 
ladies?" 

Mrs.  . — "Do  just  as  you  please:  keep  them 

on  or  take  them  off."  They  chose  to  keep  them  on. 
After  worship,  all  went  on  deck.  My  little  daughter 
was  standing  by  the  companion  way,  with  her  black 
dress  and  cape  on,  and  the  drab  bonnet  made  her  for 
the  voyage.     It  was  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation. 

The  captain  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  ,  a  stranger,  were 

standing  on  the  upper  deck  near  the  stairs.  The  cap- 
tain called  out  several  times  to  her  by  name.  The 
attention  of  the  whole  company  was  arrested.  She 
approached  him. 

Capt. — "Go  and  get  your  new  bonnet.  I  wouldn't 
wear  that  old  thing  about  when  there  is  company." 

All  eyes  were  now  turned  on  her,  and  she  felt 
mortified.  She  went  to  our  room,  and  put  on  her 
colored  silk  one,  which  was  at  hand.  She  again  ap- 
peared on  the  lower  deck.  From  his  elevated  posi- 
tion he  again  called  out  to  her,  "That  is  too  good  a 
bonnet  for  you  to  wear  on  board  a  ship."  She  then 
went  down  to  our  room  and  cried. 

The  surgeon  of  a  man-of-war  was  taking  tea  with 
us  on  board  our  ship.  Allusion  was  made  to  the  very 
strict  discipline  of  his  vessel. 

Capt. — "I  don't  know  how  Mrs.  Thurston  would 
get  along  on  board  that  ship,  to  be  put  under  such 
screws." 

Mrs.  T. — "O,  I  always  calculate,  sir,  to  submit 
to  screws." 

Neither  the  captain's  nor  the  stranger's  risables 
seemed  excited,  but  they  exhibited  different  expres- 


1870.  265 

sions  of  countenance ;  while  a  burst  of  laughter  went 
round  the  table,  among-  the  inmates  of  our  ship.  I 
guessed  some  screws  on  board  our  ship  were  thought 
of. 

Mrs.  T. — "Daughter,  will  you  go  down  and  bring- 
up  my  shawl?" 

Daugh. — "Is  it  in  your  room,  mother?" 

Mrs.  T—  "Yes,  dear." 

Daugh. — "Your  blanket  shawl?" 

Mrs.  T  — "Yes,  dear." 

Capt. — "Wihy  don't  you  break  her  of  that  man- 
ner of  speaking?  But  perhaps  you  don't  wish  to. 
Your  blanket  shawl?  She  wouldn't  speak  worse  to 
a  dog." 

Mrs.   T. — "What  should  she  have  said,  sir?" 

Capt. — "Your  blanket  shawl,  ma'am?"  (Exit  cap- 
tain.) 

Mrs.  . — "That  is   too  bad.     What   she   said 

was  perfectly  proper." 

At  table,   Mr.  was  turning  me  out  some 

water.  When  the  tumbler  was  half  full,  I  said.  *'.\ 
plenty." 

Capt. — "It  is  hoggish  to  answer  in  that  manner." 

Mrs.  T. — "How  should  I  answer,  sir?" 

Capt. — "Thank  you,  sir." 

August  1. — A  pleasant  day.  No  rebuff.  Once 
a  sentiment  I  advanced  was  even  approved. 

Gave  my  tumbler  at  the  table  to  steward*  for 
water  with  a  significant  look  and  motion,  without 
uttering  a  word.     Such  was  my  practice. 

Capt. — "That  is  not  a  right  way  of  giving  a 
tumbler.  Tf  there  were  but  one  dish  before  me,  and 
my   wife   passed   her   plate   for   some   without   saying 

*Steward's  understanding  of  his  appropriate  duties,  his  faithful- 
ness and  kindness,  secured  my  respect.  He  well  performed  his  part  in 
smooth bag  my  pathway  across  the  ocean.  His  honest  tribute  was,  "Mrs. 
Thurton   has  great  patience  on  board  this  ship." 


266  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

anything,  I  would  not  give  her  any.  I  would  think 
she  insulted  me. 

Mrs.  T. — "I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  having 
things  done  at  table,  so  far  as  they  were  understood, 
without  words,  because  I  was  sparing  of  the  use  of 
the  Hawaiian  language  before  my  children." 

Copt. — "I  know  you  have  lived  in  a  land  of  slaves. 
(At  the  same  meal.)  I  saw  a  piece  in  the  Medallion. 
I  thought  Airs.  Thurston  might  have  written  it,  there 
were  so  many  jaw-cracking  words  in  it."' 

For  months  I  had  submitted  to,  and  waived 
everything  that  had  been  heaped  upon  me.  Seated 
at  a  gentleman's  public  table,  without  a  male  relative 
to  sustain  me,  instead  of  measuring  swords  with  the 
sterner  sex,  I  fixed  my  eye  on  Prov.  26:4:  "Answer 
not  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,  lest  thou  also  be 
like  unto  him,"  After  considering  this  verse  for 
months,  I  resolved  to  move  on  to  the  next  verse. 
"Answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,  lest  he  be  wise 
in  his  own  conceit." 

So,  with  yesterday's  criticism  fresh  in  my  mind. 
I  went  up  to  the  table.  Steward  stood  in  the  aisle 
door,  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  his  hands  braced 
aloft  on  each  side,  his  eyes  looking  straight  before 
him  toward  those  whom  he  served.  I  sat  in  an  exact 
diagonal  direction  from  him,  so  that  my  voice  would 
have  to  go  across  the  table  to. reach  him. 

Mrs.  T. — "Please  to  give  me  some  water,  stew- 
ard?" (When  he  brought  and  gave  it  to  me,  I  said 
in  a  low  voice,  but  which  the  captain  could  hear,  as 
he  sat  next  to  me,)   "Thank  you." 

Capt. — "There,  that  is  characteristic  of  Mrs. 
Thurston, — from  one  extreme  to  go  to  an  opposite." 


1870.  267 

Mrs.  T . — "Sir,  I  made  use  of  the  exact  words  thai 
a  lad}7  in  America  put  into  my  mouth.  She  had  the 
kindness  to  criticise  my  family.  She  took  me  into  a 
solitary  room  to  do  it.  She  understood  human  na- 
ture. She  understood  the  feelings  of  the  female 
heart." 

The  captain  said  not  another  word.  After  rising 
from  the  table,  he  went  directly  down  to  a  passenger's 
room,  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  "It  was  as  plain," 
said  he,  "that  you  were  offended  at  table,  as  that  you 
have  a  nose  on  your  face."  She  said  to  him:  "You 
have  always  treated  me  well,  but  I  do  sympthize  with 
Mrs.  Thurston,  who  feels  deeply  on  the  subject  of  be- 
ing criticised  so  much  at  the  public  table.  She  does  not 
come  and  tell  me  her  feelings,  but  I  see  tears  fall  as 
she  passes  our  door  to  go  to  her  room."  They  recon- 
ciled matters.  She  thought  he  went  to  my  room  to 
do  the  same.     But  no. 

The  captain  mentioned  to  a  passenger  whether 
it  could  be  possible  that  Mrs.  Thurston's  mind  had 
lost  its  balance,  because  she  vindicated  eating  meat 
three  times  a  day.  What  I  said  was  that,  since  I  had 
eaten  more,  I  had  had  far  better  health  in  several 
respects,  and  far  less  headache.  We  had  had  fresh 
provisions,  vegetables,  and  meat,  after  having  been 
destitute  of  both.  Was  it  the  benevolent  sympathy 
of  his  anxious  heart  that  led  him  the  same  day  at 
tea  to  put  ten  slices  of  salt-dried  beef  on  my  plate? 
They  were  about  the  size  as  if  cut  from  the  middle 
part  of  a  beef  creature's  tongue.  In  as  respectful  a 
manner  as  I  could,  I  begged  a  part  to  be  returned. 
He  took  away  five  pieces.  I  ate  one  piece,  as  much 
as  I  was  accustomed  to  use  at  that  hour,  when  I  ate 
any.  The  four  remaining  pieces  I  left  in  a  circle  on 
the  rim  of  my  plate.    When  the  passenger  told  me  the 


268  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

captain's  remark,  my  reply  was,  "If  my  mind  has 
lost  its  balance,  I  should  not  have  one  doubt  respect- 
ing the  cause  of  it." 

It  was  before  reaching  port,  that  every  few  weeks 
I  was  prostrated  for  a  day  or  two  with  pain  in  my 
head.  Then  I  turned  to  tea  for  comfort  and  refresh- 
ment. It  came,  as  usual,  once  in  twenty-four  hours. 
I  was  satisfied  with  that.  But  the  captain  must  needs 
say  at  the  public  table,  that  he  had  no  more  sym- 
pathy for  Mrs.  Thurston,  when  she  had  the  head- 
ache, than  he  had  for  a  drunkard.  Notwithstanding, 
at  his  recommendation,  I  had  for  months  discontinued 
the  use  of  fat  meat  and  gravies. 

After  reaching  port,  my  health  so  rapidly  im- 
proved as  to  have  it  remarked  by  all.  The  captain 
mentioned  it  one  day  at  the  table,  and  asked  the  cause. 
"It  is,  sir,  because  since  coming  into  port  I  have  eaten 
more." 

I  several  times,  as  above,  aimed  to  have  my  re- 
marks form  a  check  upon  the  captain.  He  was  after- 
ward far  more  guarded  at  table.  The  only  lashes  I 
attempted  to  give  him,  were  to  hold  up  virtues  in 
which  he  was  alarmingly  deficient.  The  passengers 
thought  I  had  given  him  a  tremendous  rap  on  the 
knuckles.  He  did  not  leave  the  dining  table  ignorant 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  received.  But  what 
surprised  me  was,  that  after  I  had  taken  this  new 
position,  he  took  occasion  on  deck  to  express  his  sat- 
isfaction in  my  increased  efforts  to  please  him,  and 
even  thanked  me.  I  was  glad  to  dismiss  this  kind  of 
warfare  from  my  mind,  and  even  regretted  that  I  had 
ever  attempted  it ;  for,  I  said  to  myself,  "It  is  enough 
for  me  to  cultivate  humility  and  self-control.  Then 
from  this  school  of  adversity,  I  shall  carry  with  me 
lessons  that  will  be  of  use  in  the  most  trying  scenes 
of  life." 


1870.  269 


SECTION    III. 
From   the  Port  of  Valparaiso  to  the   End   of  the  Voyage. 

I  had  several  lady  fellow-passengers.  Not  an 
action,  not  a  word,  not  a  look  proceeded  from  either 
of  them,  of  a  personal  nature,  through  the  whole  voy- 
age, that  ever  cost  me  an  unpleasant  feeling.  I  could 
say  the  same  of  one  gentleman  passenger.     . 

Haman  wrote  me  a  note  of  two  pages.  The  char- 
acter of  it  is  well  defined  in  Bible  language — "False 
witnesses  are  risen  up  against  me,  and  such  as  breathe 
out  cruelty."  I  sent  a  reply  to  him  by  the  steward. 
He  would  not  receive  it,  but  bid  him  return  it  to  the 
writer.  An  extract  of  my  reply  reads  thus : — 
"To  Mr.  , 

Dear  Sir: — 

I  received  and  read  your  note  last  evening 
with  placid  feelings.  *  *  *  You  wish  that  all  inter- 
course should  stop  here.  For  reasons  of  which  I  am 
utterly  ignorant,  yours  has  ceased  with  the  mother 
some  time  since.  My  children  are  now  included.  It 
is  enough. 

As  it  respects  social  intercourse  with  you,  to  pro- 
mote your  happiness,  I  shall  follow  where  you  lead. 
To  promote  my  ozvn  I  shall  cherish  for  you  the  kind- 
est feelings.  As  intelligent  and  accomplished  I  re- 
spect you;  as  a  youthful  traveler  passing  to  another 
country  through  the  wild  wastes  of  this,  I  pity  you; 
as  erroneous  in  any  respects  toward  me  or  mine,  I 
freely  forgive  you." 

Matters  now  fast  ripened,  and  soon  reached  their 
climax.  I  was  "put  under  axes  of  iron,  and  harrows 
of  iron,  and  made  to  pass  through  the  brick-kiln." 
The  captain  was  one  of  the  most  active  in  these  scenes. 


270  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

And  after  being  an  actor  in  such  a  drama,  how  could 
he  say  that,  in  those  last  days  of  peculiar  trial,  the 
"wisest  course  was  pursued"?  And  again,  as  an  eye- 
witness report,  that  in  that  season  of  my  extremity 
my  ''feelings  suffered  depression!"  It  was  not  so. 
I  do  not  remember  shedding  a  single  tear.  They  pro- 
ceeded much  too  far  to  reach  their  own  aims.  I  was 
not  thus  to  be  crushed.  Through  suffering  I  had  be- 
come strong  for  trials.  /  was  lifted  up.  With  calm, 
undaunted  feelings,  and  an  equal  eye,  I  could  look 
on  all  the  powers  of  earth  and  hell. 

SECTION    IV. 
Sequel. 

In  the  eighth  month  of  the  voyage  I  reached  Ho- 
nolulu. Before  anchoring,  a  boat  and  a  brother  had 
arrived.  I  was  in  readiness  to  depart.  I  had  reached 
my  friends.  I  had  reached  an  atmosphere  of  love,  of 
kindness,  and  of  sympathy.  I  had  been  taught  their 
value.  My  lips  were  sealed  to  everything  of  an  op- 
posite nature.     By  skillfully  evading  direct  questions, 

I  was  enabled  to  pursue  that  course.     Mr.  had 

just  received  a  letter  from  my  husband,  commending 
me  to  his  care.  After  reading  it,  he  said :  "Father 
Thurston  is  fast  ripening  for  heaven."  I  read  it  too. 
What  he  said  in  relation  to  his  wife  was  soothing  to 
her  lacerated  feelings.  "Many  daughters  had  done 
virtuously,  but  she  ." 

When  I  went  ashore  there  was  a  domestic  vessel 
lying  in  port  with  her  flag  flying  from  the  top  of  her 
mast,  a  signal  for  sailing.     It  was  bound  to  the  place 


fc  13 


3  V 


M   & 


1870.  271 

of  my  home,  and  waited  for  me  till  the  next  day.  I 
then  sailed  with  my  children,  leaving  before  the  ship, 
so  late  my  abode,  entered  the  inner  harbor.  The  note 
which  I  had  formerly  written  to  Haman,  I  now  sent 
to  him,  adding  an  additional  note,  containing  the  fol- 
lowing lines : — 

"As  we  shall  probably  meet  no  more  on  earth, 
perhaps  you  will  now  be  willing  to  read  what  I  penned 
for  you  on  board.  You  have  a  mother  in  America : 
I  have  a  son.  I  know  how  to  sympathize  with  mothers, 
and  I  know  how  to  sympathize  with  sons.     Farewell." 

I  could  give  many  other  curious  specimens  of 
human  nature.  But  enough.  I  only  add  in  the  lan- 
guage of  one  of  our  passengers,  that  "that  ship  was 
the  queerest  world  that  I  ever  jumped  into." 


19 


PART  FOURTH 

1871-6. EXTRACTS    FROM    LETTERS.        CONCLUSION. 


1871. 

ARTICLE    I. 

Thanksgiving  Dinner. 

(Written   when  living  alone  in  her  cottage  home  at  Honolulu,  her 
daughter    Mrs.    Mary    Benfleld   having    gone    to    North    Carolina    for    her 

husband's   health.) 

Honolulu,  .December  23. 

My  dear  Daughter  Per  sis: 

From  different  pens  I  have  a  full  view  of 
your  thanksgiving  dinner.  Now  I  will  give  you  a  de- 
scription of  mine.  Opposite  where  I  sat,  your  father's 
accustomed  place,  there  was  a  quart  glass  tumbler 
that  was  filled  with  flowers  for  him.  On  the  right 
there  were  three  common-sized  tumblers  of  flowers, 
each  one  for  a  child.  On  the  left,  four  little  tum- 
blers, with  opening  lilies,  each  one  for  a  grandchild. 
These,  all  surrounded  with  evergreens,  were  for  my 
family  that  had  passed  to  the  summer  land.  Those, 
still  in  the  flesh,  were  represented  by  piles  of  the  old 
blue  China  plates,  family  by  family,  placed  across 
the  upper  end  of  the  table,  the  numbers  of  plates  in 
each  pile  corresponding  with  the  number  of  members 
in  the  family  it  represented,  making  in  all  nineteen 
plates. 

272 


1871-2.  273 

A  native  boy  sat  at  the  other  end  of  the  table. 
There  were  no  dishes  of  food  along  the  middle,  but 
my  plate  and  his,  with  two  large  circles  of  small  plates, 
were  replenished  with  baked  beef,  sweet  and  Irish 
potatoes,  bread,  biscuit,  milk,  cucumbers,  apples,  ba- 
nanas, and  guava  preserves ;  to  which  were  added 
from  Oakland,  dried  apples,  stewed,  and  preserved 
cherries. 

I  enjoyed  my  Thanksgiving  dinner.  In  my  youth, 
I  separated  myself  from  my  native  home  and  friends 
there,  and  with  a  beautiful  staff,  passed  over  to  this 
then  heathen  land.  Now  I  have  large  investments  in 
two  countries  and  in  two  worlds.  What  though  for 
a  point  of  time  I  am  detached  from  what  are  still 
mine,  there  is  a  glowing  future,  when  I  shall,  in  a 
higher  sense  than  I  have  ever  yet  experienced,  enjoy 
my  acquisitions. 

Your  loving  Mother. 


ARTICLE    II. 

Grandmothers'   Tea   Party. 
(From   the   "Friend,"   of   Honolulu.) 

THE  RARE  privilege  was  afforded  us  on  the  28th 
of  Aug.  (1872)  of  being  present  at  a  gathering 
of  grandmothers  in  honor  of  Mrs.  Betsy  H.  Judd, 
who  completed  on  that  day  her  ninetieth  year.  One 
of  her  granddaughters,  Mrs.  Laura  Dickson,  wishing 
to  honor  the  occasion,  devised  the  highly  appropriate 
plan  of  inviting  all  the  foreign  grandmothers  in  Ho- 
nolulu to  a  Tea  Party  at  her  residence.  The  weather 
was  most  propitious,  and  the  occasion  such  as  enlisted 


274  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

the  gathering  of  such  an  assembly  as  would  reflect 
the  highest  honor  upon  any  Christian  community  in 
the  most  favored  part  of  the  world.  Most  fortunately 
we  entered  when  between  thirty  and  forty  ladies,  a 
little  past  middle  age,  with  a  few  verging  onward  to 
the  period  of  the  "sere  and  yellow  leaf,"  were  seated 
at  the  tables  sumptuously  spread  with  the  good  things 
of  this  life.  These  ladies  were  served  by  a  company 
of  their  daughters  and  others,  in  the  fresh  season  of 
young  womanhood.  When  all  were  thus  gathered, 
the  venerable  Mrs.  Thurston  invoked  the  Divine  bless- 
ing in  the- following  touching  language: — 

"Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven,  we  thank  Thee 
that  Thou  dost  satisfy  us  with  long  life.  Enable  us  to 
yield  fruit  in  old  age.  May  our  last  days  be  emphati- 
cally our  best  days.  Bless  this  social  interview.  Bless 
to  our  use  this  food.  Make  it  a  feast  of  love.  While 
we  tarry  till  Thou  come,  may  we  day  by  day  be  pre- 
paring, so  as  to  be  unclothed,  that  mortality  may  be 
swallowed  up  of  life.     For  Jesus  sake.     Amen." 

While  the  ladies  were  seated  at  the  tables,  Mrs. 
Thurston  arose  and  read  the  following  address : — 

"I  remember  the  time  when  at  this  metropolis  of 
our  little  world,  the  highest  perfection  of  the  female 
picture  of  a  family  would  be  a  mother  standing  with 
an  infant  in  her  arms,  and  a  toddling  child  by  her 
side,  hanging  on  to  her  skins.  Now  I  open  my  eyes 
to  behold  a  venerable  company  of  forty  grandmothers, 
including  four  great-grandmothers.  This  leads  me  to 
invite  your  attention  for  a  few  minutes  to  the  origin 
and  increase  of  foreign  female  society  on  Hawaii. 

In    1820    the    first    foreign    ladies    reached    these 


1872.  275 

shores  that  were  ever  seen  by  the  eyes  of  natives. 
They  were  seven  in  number,  including  one  mother 
with  rive  children.  That  company  had  only  liberty  to 
come  on  shore  and  stay  one  year.  What  circum- 
spection, what  power  of  endurance  they  were  called 
upon  to  exercise !  The  ladies  were  a  rare  curiosity 
to  the  nation ;  the  children  more  so.  To  turn  from 
scenes  of  pressing  their  own  children  beneath  the  sod 
with  their  own  heels,  or,  if  allowed  to  live,  to  go  en- 
tirely naked, — then  to  behold  our  children  dressed 
with  shirts,  pants  and  coats,  with  dresses  and  neck- 
attire,  with  stockings  and  shoes,  with  hats  and  bon- 
nets, they  were  delighted — they  were  fascinated  with 
them,  as  much  as  our  children  would  be  with  a  fresh 
importation  of  London  dolls.  Kalaimoku,  a  great 
warrior,  who  put  down  the  rebellion  in  favor  of  idols, 
who  sustained  the  position  of  prime  minister  of  the 
nation,  and  was  called  the  Iron  Cable,  passed  by  edu- 
cated men  and  chose  little  Daniel  Chamberlain,  five 
years  old,  to  be  his  teacher  in  learning  the  English 
alphabet.  When  Mrs.  Chamberlain  started  to  go  to 
church  with  her  family,  by  the  time  she  got  there,  she 
was*as  destitute  of  children  as  young  married  ladies. 
( )ne  queen  would  secure  a  child,  another  a  second, 
and  so  on.     We  had  ten  queens  in  those  days. 

A  deputation  from  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety was  providentially  brought  to  us.  They  were 
thirty  years  ahead  of  us  in  a  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
perience of  missionary  labors.  They  awoke  us  from 
a  dream  of  security.  Their  advice,  after  being  months 
in  our  family,  was  gratuitous  and  full.  "Let  Mr. 
Chamberlain  take  his  six  children,  go  home  with  them, 
and  train  them  up  for  God.    He  never  can  do  it  here. 


276  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

As  society  now  is,  to  come  in  contact  with  natives  or 
foreigners  would  be  moral  death."  Our  own  mis- 
sionaries too  said,  "Go."  Thus  they  did  their  mis- 
sionary work  up  quick,  and  returned  to  their  native 
land.  But  the  winning  influence  they  exerted  over  the 
minds  of  natives  in  causing  the  Mission  so  quickly 
to  become  the  acknowledged  teachers  of  the  nation, 
will  never  be  appreciated  in  this  life. 

During  successive  years,  several  other  families, 
parents  and  children  retired,  and  their  places  were 
rilled  with  new  recruits.  Some  nine  or  a  dozen  chil- 
dren in  early  childhood  were  torn  from  the  arms  of 
their  parents,  and  sent  across  the  waters  for  educa- 
tion. A  returned  missionary  lady  from  the  East  said 
to  me:  "A  child  left  in  the  streets  in  America  would 
have  a  better  education  than  in  the  best  family  in  a 
heathen  land."  One  divine  among  us  who  had  a 
regard  to  the  sacredness  of  the  family  institution, 
thought  that  these  human  clippings  went  to  make  a 
family  look  like  a  cacoanut  tree.  Another,  fourteen 
years  after  the  commencement  of  the  Mission,,  with 
all  the  ardency  of  his  nature  hoped,  that  no  daughter 
would  ever  remain  in  this  land  up  to  the  age  of  her 
fifteenth  year.  But  the  good  hand  of  our  God  was 
upon  us.  Punahou  school  rose  up  to  bless  our  land. 
It  worked  together  for  good  that  some  of  our  chil- 
dren were  there  educated,  that  some  were  sent  to 
America,  and  some  trained  in  private  families.  The 
Cousins'  Society  is  a  monument  of  glory  to  the  Ameri- 
can missionaries.  The  instructions  given  to  the  na- 
tion had  its  natural  result.  A  standard  was  raised 
of  what  was  right.  Vice  fled  from  the  open  face 
of  day  to  dens  and  secret  places. 

When  a  white  man  died  in  former  times,  a  line 


1872.  277 

in  his  yard  was  drawn  around  his  dwelling.  Every- 
thing within  that  line  went  to  the  king,  even  down  to 
a  pewter  spoon.  The  natural  heirs  were  stripped  of 
everything.  So  all  the  land  belonged  to  the  king,  and 
could  not  become  alienated  from  him.  He  could  at 
an  hour's  warning  dispossess  any  subject  of  his  home. 
Thus  we  lived   for  twenty-seven  years. 

Kamehameha  III.,  who  was  emphatically  the 
Father  of  his  country,  gave  to  his  people  salutary 
written  laws.  He  put  land,  too,  into  the  hands  of 
his  subjects,  to  become  theirs,  their  heirs  and  assigns 
forever.  Then  it  was  that  grandmothers  migrated  to 
this  land  from  abroad,  and  mothers  here  became  so 
by  ordinary  generation.  Then  it  was  that  our  sons 
and  daughters  were  retained  by  the  side  of  their  par- 
ents. It  was  good  to  bring  woman  here  when  gross 
darkness  was  upon  the  people.  It  was  good  to  bring 
grandmothers  here  when  the  light  began  to  shine.  It 
was  very  good  to  plant  children  on  Hawaiian  soil — 
sons  to  become  the  sinews  of  the  land,  and  daughters 
to  become  corner-stones,  polished  after  the  similitude 
of  a  palace. 

This  first  conspicuous  "Grandmothers'  Tea  Party" 
is  to  congratulate  her,  who  in  our  whole  little  realm 
stands  pre-eminent  in  age.  With  physical  and  mental 
powers  in  good  preservation,  she  this  day  completes 
the  count  of  ninety  years.  She  is  able  to  look  down 
and  see  her  house  sustained  by  grandchildren,  seven 
pillars  all  in  the  prime  of  life;  and  around  their  tables 
olive  plants  are  clustered  like  lilies  by  the  water  brooks. 

Peace  be  to  grandmothers,  who  have  children  and 
grandchildren  to  lead  them  down  the  slope  of  life, 
over  green  fields,  and  beside  the  still  waters.     Peace 


278  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

be  to  grandmothers,  whose  lines  are  fallen  to  them, 
in  pleasant  places,  having  a  goodly  heritage,  a  heritage 
enlightened  by  the  beams  of  the  sun  of  righteousness 
and  blessed  with  a  knowledge  of  his  salvation." 

Respecting  this  gathering  of  grandmothers,  the 
following  statistics  may  prove  interesting  to  our  read- 
ers. At  the  tables  were  seated  27  grandmothers  and 
three  great-grandmothers,  representing  155  children, 
221  grandchildren,  and  20  great-grandchildren.  Twelve 
grandmothers  residing  in  Honolulu  were  not  present. 
It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  among  these  grandmoth- 
ers, there  were  21  widows,  indicating  that  long  life 
is  the  portion  of  the  female,  rather  than  of  the  male 
sex,  at  the   Sandwich   Islands. 


ARTICLE    III. 

Battle-fields  of  Life.      Life  Alone. 

I  HAVE  been  reflecting  in  regard  to  those  going 
forth  to  the  fierce  battlefields  of  life.  To  me  the 
most  noble  and  sublime  spectacle  ever  witnessed  in 
our  world  is  a  person  standing  up  for  righteousness 
and  triumphing  over  accumulated  sharp  and  heavy 
trials.  I  constantly  pray  for  such  with  my  firmest 
faith,  that  as  their  day  is,  so  their  strength  may  be. 
I  depend  on  a  native  to  prepare  my  food  and 
wait  on  me.  I  commune  with  the  secrets  and  mys- 
teries of  solitude.  Every  Saturday  night,  I  pay  off 
all  services  rendered  through  the  week.  I  expect 
death  to  creep  over  me  in  just  such  circumstances  as 


1874.  279 

• 
it  happens.  I  have  written  a  letter  to  the  undertaker, 
anticipating  directions.  I  am  not  prepared  for  sick- 
ness. It  would  be  very  inconvenient.  It  is  said  to 
be  a  sin.  I  try  to  avoid  it.  Other  houses  are  visited, 
and  there  is  such  a  commotion, — doctors  in  counsel, 
nurses,  watches,  and  all  Honolulu  awake  and  active 
in  expressions  or  acts  of  sympathy.  The  storm  is  tem- 
pered to  the  shorn  lamb. 


ARTICLE    IV. 

To   Mrs.    Persis   G.   Taylor,    on   her   return   to    California,    having 
given  her  mother  a  helping  visit   of  four  months. 

Honolulu,  January  11,  1874. 

My  dear  Daughter  Persis: 

You  have  accomplished  your  mission.  Go, 
return  to  your  husband  and  your  children.  Give  my 
love  and  gratitude  to  each  one  of  them  for  encourag- 
ing and  aiding  you  to  cross  the  ocean  to  visit  your 
lone  mother.  I  was  blessed  in  having  you  come.  I 
am  blessed  in  seeing  you  return  to  the  center  of  a 
circle,  bound  to  you  by  the  strongest  ties  of  nature. 
You  have  reached  the  period  when  a  clustered  family 
begin  to  scatter.  You  are  in  the  noontide  of  life,  sub- 
ject to.  its  struggles.  Your  aged  mother  has  reached 
the  calm  and  quiet  of  even-tide.  It  is  not  dark.  The 
western  sky  is  lighted  up  with  golden  hues.  I  wait 
the  summons  to  pass  to  higher  scenes.  It  is  easy  to 
linger.  It  will  be  easy  to  go.  In  all  God's  universe, 
I  occupy,  now  and  ever,  just  the  niche  that  he  as- 
signs me. 


280  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

I  have  been  vividly  reminded  of  your  childhood's 
years.  Could  I  then  have  divined  what  you  would 
be  to  me  in  1873  ?  May  your  children  be  to  you  what 
you  have  so  lovingly  been  to 

Your  affectionate  and  grateful 

Mother. 


ARTICLE    V. 

Death   of   a    Grandson — Robert    Thurston,    aged    19    years. 

Honolulu,  April  28th,  1874. 

My   dear  Children  and   Grandchildren: 

I  address  you  all  as  one.  But  let  me  write 
your  names.  Let  me  count  my  treasures.  Persis,  Mr. 
Taylor,  Lucy,  Mary,  Henry,  James,  and  Eddie, — 
Sarah,  Lorrin,  and  Helen, — Mary,  Marcus,  Asa,  Lily, 
and  Clara, — Thomas,  and  Alice. 

Of  my  own  loved  ones,  still  mine,  but  who  have 
passed  beyond  the  veil,  there  is  your  honored  father, 
— Lucy  and  Asa, — Edwin  and  Frank, — Ed,  Mary  and 
Eric, — George  and  Robert. 

In  what  I  have  written,  the  tale  is  told ;  for  Rob- 
ert has  passed  to  higher  scenes. 

April  4th,  Saturday. — The  ball  of  his  right 
foot  became  exceedingly  painful.  It  was  considered 
a  stone  bruise,  the  result  of  fishing  in  the  water  bare- 
foot. For  a  whole  week  his  sufferings  were  intense. 
He  was  scarcely  able  to  eat  or  sleep. 

April  8th,  Wednesday. — The  doctor  was  sent 
for.     He  entered  into  the  same  ideas  that  had  been 


1874.  281 

entertained,  of  its  being  a  stone  bruise,  and  continued 
poultices,  ordering  them  to  be  made  of  flaxseed,  and 
changed  once  in  two  hours.  He  lanced  it  Wednesday 
and  Friday  without  relief. 

April  11th,  Saturday. — Doctor  visited  him  five 
times. 

April  12th,  Sunday. — Doctor  was  up  before 
breakfast.  Again  at  noon.  Again  in  the  afternoon 
bringing  another  doctor  with  him  as  counsel.  He 
called  Robert's  attention,  if  possible,  to  trace  back 
his  steps  to  the  point  where  his  foot  received  a  hurt. 
Thus  quickened,  his  recollection  reached  the  time, 
when  going  into  the  water,  he  stepped  on  a  piece  of 
coral,  but  it  was  a  thing  too  insignificant  to  receive 
attention.  The  counsel  at  once  gave  an  expressive 
look  to  the  family  physician.  It  was  the  first  moment 
that  the  idea  of  poison  had  dawned  upon  the  mind. 
He  had  once  lost  a  patient  when  poison  had  been 
communicated  in  the  same  manner.  One  whole  week 
had  now  elapsed  since  his  sufferings  commenced.  It 
is  now  supposed  that  he  was  poisoned  by  a  small 
shellfish,  a  species  of  annelides,  which  attaches  itself 
to  coral  rocks  when  in  the  sea.  Natives  are  frequently 
wounded  in  this  way,  and  unless  prompt  remedies  are 
applied,  it  often  proves  fatal.  They  usually  burn  the 
wound  with  a  coal  of  fire,  or  apply  the  leaves  of  a 
weed, — but  physicians  generally  cauterize  it  with  ni- 
trate of  silver.  This  is  the  first  instance  of  a  for- 
eigner having  been  poisoned  in  this  way  that  we  have 
known. 

Toward  night,  a  friend  rode  up  to  my  door  to 
say  that  the  doctors  thought  Robert  could  not  live. 
That  night  I  did  not  close  my  eyes  in  sleep,  till  after 
three  in  the  morning.  Every  relative  tie,  every  inferior 
consideration,    was   absorbed   in   his   securing  eternal 


282  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

life.  It  was  a  night  to  be  remembered.  Deep  soli- 
tude, and  silence,  and  darkness  reigned.  With  my 
dying  son,  I  approached  very  near  to  the  Savior.  I 
laid  him  with  entire  trust,  fully  into  his  compassion- 
ate arms,  with  one  request,  only  one,  in  that  I  would 
not  be  denied.  Make  him  a  pure  spirit,  to  glorify 
God,  and  enjoy  him  forever. 

April  13th,  Monday. — The  doctor  remarked 
that  in  a  hundred  chances,  he  had  but  one  of  living. 
At  evening  twilight,  his  aunt  gently  revealed  to  him 
that  he  would  likely  soon  leave  them.  The  idea 
seemed  to  enter  his  very  soul.  He  quivered  all  over. 
Then  closed  his  eyes  and  lay  for  a  time.  After 
which,  he  conversed  with  his  aunt.  He  said  he 
"longed  to  be  a  Christian  but  he  didn't  know  how." 
He  asked  her  to  pray  with  him.  She  felt  that  God 
was  there,  and  sought  for  spiritual  blessings  with 
great  fervor.  When  she  ended,  he  said,  "Amen." 
He  inquired  if  he  should  be  likely  to  live  a  week, 
anl  received  for  answer,  that  he  would  probably  die 
before  morning. 

When  the  doctor  came  in  the  evening,  he  was 
quickly  informed  by  an  outsider  that  Robert  had  been 
told  of  his  danger.  The  doctor  was  greatly  annoyed. 
He  said  in  his  very  weak  state,  it  was  enough  to  snap 
the  thread  of  life,  and  to  ninety-nine  cases  out  of 
one  hundred  patients,  it  would  be  an  injury.  On  en- 
tering the  sick-room,  Robert  said  to  him,  "I  want  to 
know  how  I  am.  Tell  me  the  truth.  I  am  not  afraid 
to  die."  The  doctor  told  him  not  to  worry,  to  be 
calm  in  his  mind,  and  spoke  to  him  words  of  encour- 
agement. When  he  returned  to  the  parlor,  he  told 
the  family  that  Robert's  pulse  was  in  an  improved 
state. 


1874.  283 

April  14tii  and  15th,  Tuesday  and  Wednes- 
day.— Doctor  said  that  Robert  had  one  chance  in  sev- 
enty-five  for  life.  His  pulse  was  better,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  in  a  minute.  It  had  been  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  and  on  so  fast  that  they  could  not  be  counted. 
He  had  had  considerable  fever,  was  very  weak,  and 
felt  "so  tired."  He  said  to  his  watcher:  "They  told 
me  night  before  last  that  I  might  die  before  morning, 
and  I  prepared  for  it."  He  asked  a  friend:  "How 
ami?"  He  replied:  "You  are  very  sick."  He  folded 
his  hands,  closed  his  eyes,  and  for  some  time  appeared 
to  be  in   prayer. 

April  16th  and  17th,  Thursday  and  Friday. 
— His  breathing— every  breath  was  a  gasp — was  some- 
what relieved,  the  swelling  in  his  chest,  abdomen,  and 
leg,  somewhat  diminished.  He  ate  more,  slept  more, 
and  was  stronger.  It  was  sweetly  sad  to  see  how  he 
longed  for  the  presence  of  his  mother,  absent  on  an- 
other island.  Although  the  schooner  to  bring  her  was 
not  expected  till  Saturday,  he  often  asked  if  she  had 
come,  and  often  sent  his  brother  to  see  whether  the 
schooner  was  in  sight. 

The  feelings  he  expressed  respecting  his  spiritual 
state,  were,  "that  he  longed  to  be  a  Christian ;  but 
Christ  seemed  a  great  way  off.  He  was  afraid  he 
did  not  believe  in  him.  He  did  not  know  how.  He 
could  not  get  the  hang  of  it."  Intelligent,  discrimi- 
nating Christians  thought  his  will  was  subdued,  and 
that  his  safety  did  not  depend  upon  the  comfort  he 
received.  With  me  it  required  neither  his  testimony 
nor  theirs  to  enable  me  to  lay  trustingly  into  the  hands 
of  the  Savior  my  heart's  treasure.  My  consolation 
through  the  sacred  page  came  directly  from  Him. 

Once  Robert  said :  "Dear  aunt,  I  know  what  suf- 
fering  is."     Yet,    inexperienced    as   he   had   hitherto 


284  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

been  in  that  school,  not  a  single  repining  word  ever 
dropped  from  his  lips.  But  he  often  said,  "I  am 
so  tired."  Under  this  severe  discipline,  a  softening 
touch  had  been  given  to  his  character.  All  along  he 
was  humble,  docile,  patient,  loving,  and  so  unceas- 
ingly attentive,  in  the  midst  of  sufferings,  to  preface 
his  requests  with  please,  and  close  kind  acts  with 
thank  you,  and  in  his  seasons  of  delirium,  so  per- 
fectly pure  in  every  sentence,  and  in  every  word,  that 
the  spirit  he  breathed  on  that  sick-bed,  was  very  beau- 
tiful. 

Having  spent  Friday  there,  with  the  setting  sun 
I  returned  to  my  own  home.  In  the  edge  of  the  eve- 
ning a  friend  called  to  say,  "We  think  he  is  going." 
Through  the  darkness  of  the  night,  we  silently  pressed 
our  way  to  the  chamber  of  death. 

On  entering,  there  lay  our  own  Robert,  speech- 
less and  unobservant.  Even  in  such  circumstances, 
the  beauty  and  the  aspect  of  the  youth,  ripening  into 
manhood  were  ill  concealed.  It  was  previous  to  this, 
within  about  two  hours  of  his  release,  he  said :  "Dear 
aunt,  help  me  to  hold  my  breath."  Some  time  had 
elapsed  after  that,  when  he  shouted,  as  if  answering 
to  a  call,  "I'm  coming,  I'm  coming."  They  were  his 
last  words.  The  dying  one  now  experienced  one,  then 
another  short  but  severe  paroxysm  of  pain.  It  was 
the  shattering  of  the  body  to  allow  the  soul  to  walk 
forth  in  its  immortality.  Then  life  quietly  ebbed 
away.  No  sound  broke  upon  the  stillness  of  that 
hour,  save  the  repetition  of  select  stanzas  from  pre- 
cious hymns. 

Robert  was  no  longer  there.  In  the  midnight 
hour  I  returned  to  my  home.  I  entered  the  dark 
solitary  abode,  where  I  had  five  nights  kept  vigils  for 


1874.  285 

Robert,  while  he  lay  between  life  and  death.  My 
prayers  for  him  were  now  entirely  ended.  Then,  in- 
stead of  allowing  grief  and  sadness  to  be  my  guests, 
I  invited  thanksgiving  to  abide  with  me.  I  had  only 
to  express  my  gratitude,  ere  the  channel  became 
deeper  and  deeper,  broader  and  broader.  I  was  so 
borne  along  over  the  space  of  nineteen  years,  to  the 
time  when  the  spark  of  life  was  first  lighted  up,  and 
so  borne  upward  that  it  formed  one  of  the  green  spots 
in  my  life,   where  memory  will   ever  love   to  linger. 

Under  this  visitation,  among  friends  and  the  com- 
munity, there  was  one  pulsation  of  sympathy  and 
aid. — 

Was  Jesus,  in  his  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and 
love,  less  kind,-— even  though  he  called  three  widows 
to  lay  their  son  and  grandson,  their  hope  and  strength, 
on  the  altar,  an  offering  without  blemish? 

What  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  shalt 
know  hereafter. 

Your  loving  mother  and  grandmother, 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


ARTICLE    VI. 

Marriage   of   a    Granddaughter   in    California.      Self-Support. 

Honolulu,  July,  1874. 

My  dear  Granddaughter  Mary: 

I  revert  to  the  time  when  I  was  first  introduced 
to  a  little  toddling  girl  in  her  second  year.  During 
these  succeeding  years  she  has  been  growing  into 
womanhood,  I  have  been  domesticated  with  her  for 
months  and  months  together  in  various  places.     And 


286  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

now,  on  the  eve  of  her  wedding,  she  comes  with  her 
cozy  letter,  and  spreads  before  her  distant  grand- 
mother, her  very  self,  her  surroundings,  her  pros- 
pects, and  her  aspirations,  just  as  if  she  indeed  be- 
longed to  me.  How  your  freedom,  affection,  and  con- 
fidence warms  and  melts  a  heart  encrusted  with  age 
and  solitude !  With  ease  and  simplicity  you  intro- 
duce "Charlie"  as  your  new-found  husband,  and  my 
new-found  grandson.  I  accept  and  place  him  with 
Mary  in  my  heart  of  hearts.  God  Almighty  bless 
you  both,  and  may  you  together  walk  before  him  in 
truth  and  love.  I  thank  you  ever  so.  much  for  your 
photographs.  I  put  them  into  a  large  frame,  wholly 
devoted  to  our  family.  It  is  very  interesting  receiv- 
ing samples  of  your  dresses.  I  pronounce  your  trous- 
seau to  be  quite  modest  and  economic.  But  the  best 
of  all  is  that  you  have  learned  self-support. 

I  yesterday  read  an  impressive  piece  respecting 
a  daughter  of  affluence.  She  was  above  doing  or 
learning  anything  belonging  to  the  labors  of  life. 
Her  youth,  and  prime,  and  wealth  had  all  passed 
away.  Incapable  of  effort,  crushed  with  the  respon- 
sibility of  sustaining  herself,  she  fell,  with  eyes  weak- 
ened by  weeping,  from  the  high  eminence  to  which 
riches  raised  her,  to  the  lowest  strata  of  honest  so- 
ciety, the  poor  and  shiftless,  while  the  daughters  of 
her  poor  and  despised  neighbor,  the  washerwoman, 
were  made  wise  under  the  teachings  of  stern  neces- 
sity, qualified  themselves  for  earth's  duties,  and  rose 
to  posts  of  usefulness  and  emolument. 

Your  loving  grandmother, 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


^^Q  ^^*U<5^~^; 


ARTICLE    VII. 

To   Miss   M.   A.    Chamberlain,    Corresponding   Secretary   of   Mission   Chil- 
dren's  Society. 

Honolulu,  September  2nd,  1874. 

"From  your  own  hand  I  received  the  twenty-sec- 
ond annual  report  of  the  Hawaiian  Mission  Children's 
Society.  There  I  learn  officially  that  they  have  ad- 
mitted by  a  single  vote,  as  honorary  members,  all  the 
surviving  fathers  and  mothers  of  this  Mission,  and 
likewise  placed  upon  this  list  the  names  of  those  who 
have  departed  this  life. 

Such  a  loving  act  touches  the  heart.  I  thank 
them  for  myself.  I  thank  them  for  the  living.  I 
thank  them   for  the  dead. 

In  contemplating  this  society,  my  mind  runs  back 
to  other  years,  when  the  eldest  children  of  this  Mis- 
sion were  grouped  beneath  parental  guidance,  shut 
in  by  a  dark  horizon.  Without  schools,  without  a 
future  sphere,  without  a  parental  foothold  in  the 
nation.  The  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of  their  promised 
privileges  lay  in  the  homes  of  their  unassisted  and 
overtasked  parents. 

Thus  peculiarly  situated,  the  ladies  of  the  Mis- 
sion formed  a  Maternal  Association.  At  the  yearly 
gathering  of  the  General  Meeting,  it  continued  to 
hold  its  sessions.  In  a  marvelous  manner,  light,  lib- 
erty, and  privileges  became  the  inheritance  of  our 
children. 

In  1852  the  Mission  Children's  Society  was  or- 
ganized. It  may  be  that  one  organization  was  the 
upshot  of  the  other.  Be  that  as  it  may,  a  power  for 
good   changed   hands.     A   rapid   stride  was  made   in 

287 
20 


288  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

the  right  direction.  Children  increased  in  number, 
age,  strength,  and  action.  Their  circle  was  extended 
by  alliances  of  marriage  and  of  friendship. 

In  a  less,  but  somewhat  similar  ratio,  parents 
have  declined.  And  now  with  them,  in  the  day  when 
the  keepers  of  the  house  tremble,  and  the  grinders 
cease  because  they  are  few,  and  those  that  look  out 
of  the  windows  be  darkened; — or  the  silver  cord«has 
been  loosed,  and  the  golden  bowl  broken,— now  it  is 
that  loving  hearts  and  strong  hands,  in  the  full  tide 
of  prosperity,  have  beckoned  the  living  to  soft  green 
seats  in  their  own  enclosure,  and  so  registered  the 
names  of  all,  all,  as  to  have  them  held  in  honored  re- 
membrance. 

I  only  add,  that  by  this  reverential  and  hallowed 
act,  the  Society  encircle  their  own  brow  with  a  halo 
of  glory. 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


ARTICLE    VIII. 

Advice  on    Entering   Married   Life.      To   a    Granddaughter   in   California. 

Honolulu,  October  12th,  1874. 

My  dear  Lucy: 

And  have'  you,  my  inexperienced  granddaughter, 
launched  forth  on  the  sea  of  matrimony?  And  in  so 
doing,  waved  your  hand  to  your  grandmother  to  send 
you  a  chart  that  will  guide  you  happily  over  the  un- 
known waves  of  life?  Now  in  the  vicinity  of  eighty 
years,  with  all  its  prolonged  experience  and  broad 
observation,  could  I  begin  anew  to  measure  off  human 


1874.  289 

existence,  it  seems  to  me  I  should  reach  forth  to  a 
far  nobler  life  than  I  now  look  back  upon.  But  I  can 
only  measurably  give  this  off  to  another. 

A  new  generation  begins  life  anew,  fresh  and 
empty,  and  their  impress  of  character  is  largely  de- 
rived  from  their  own  observation   and  experience. 

Of  all  the  institutions  of  earth,  marriage  stands 
pre-eminent,  inasmuch  as  it  was  founded  by  God  him- 
self. The  happiness  flowing  from  it,  in  comparison 
with  all  human  organizations,  is  as  precious  stones  to 
granite. 

I  rejoice  that  my  oldest  grandchild,  who  of  the 
fourth  generation  bears  the  name  of  Lucy,  has  found 
the  one  in  whom  her  heart  can  trust.  God  Almighty, 
before  whom  your  ancestors  walked,  bless  you,  bless 
your  husband,  and  make  you  blessings  to  each  other. 
It  is  very  beautiful  to  have  two  lives  mingle  and  flow 
into  one,  producing  a  union  of  hearts.  The  delight 
of  conjugal  love  consists  in  this,  that  the  will  of  one 
is  that  of  the  other. 

When  I  was  twenty-four  years  of  age,  I  became 
a  wife.  God  chose  for  me.  I  received  my  husband 
as  from  His  hand.  United,  through  untried  and  va- 
ried scenes,  we  traveled  life's  pathway  together  for 
forty-eight  years.  On  entering  this  relation,  I  sought 
from  the  Bible  to  know  its  duties.  To  me  they  were 
clearly  defined  by  the  Author  of  our  being,  and  the 
Author  of  this  great  institution.  Wives,  love,  submit 
to,  obey,  and  reverence  your  husbands.  I  never  felt 
it  a  servile  lot.  I  was  lifted  up  into  a  higher  sphere 
of  grace  and  dignity.  But  these  duties  of  the  wife 
are  to  be  placed  in  conjunction  with  those  of  the 
husband.  Such  is  the  dictate  of  a  God  of  Order,  of 
Wisdom,    Beneficence.      Husbands,    love   your    wives, 


290  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

even  as  Christ  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for 
it.  What  wife  but  would  feel  it  her  delight  and  glory 
to  throw  herself  with  docility  and  confidence  on  a 
love  so  tender,  beautiful,  wonderful,  and  unchanging? 

Not  angels,  but  human  pairs  are  brought  to- 
gether. As  they  are  possessed  with  the  frailties  of 
our  nature,  they  should  begin  life's  pathway  with  this 
motto,  "Bear  and  Forbear." 

I  once  knew  a  man  and  his  wife.  They  were 
professors  of  religion,  and  admitted  into  the  upper 
circles  of  society.  Their  house,  table,  and  wardrobe 
all  bespoke  in  a  high  degree,  the  cultivation  and  en- 
joyment of  order  and  good  taste.  Their  bearing  to- 
ward each  other  in  public  was  charming.  No  lack 
of  attentions.  Such  was  the  general  appearance  to 
the  outside  world,  to  their  neighbors  even.  Yet  in 
one  thing  between  that  pair,  zvill  was  pitted  against 
will.  Each  individual  thought,  "I  am  all  right,  but 
the  other  is  all  wrong."  Neither  would  yield.  In 
the  bosom  of  each  was  a  chaldron,  always  heated, 
sometimes  boiling  over.  There  was  a  skeleton  in  their 
house  which  remained  until  the  first  funeral  came  off. 

Some  married  people  speak  of  the  defects  and 
the  faults  of  their  partners  to  a  third  person.  -Oth- 
ers there  are  who  keep  their  tongues  pure  from  such 
utterances.  That  is  well.  If  there  is  a  burden,  let 
it  be  given  to  the  Savior. 

How  many,  even  of  the  pious  and  cultivated, 
carelessly  mar  their  dearest  interests!  How  many 
seem  not  to  realize  that  conjugal  love  is  a  plant,  liable 
to   be   dwarfed   by   rude   touches ;   but   tenderlv   cher- 


1874.  291 

ished,  increases  in  growth,  beauty,  and  fragrance. 
Take  for  instance:  It  was  a  little  thing.  How  little. 
The  husband,  wife,  and  several  children  were  grouped 
around  a  table,  all  listening  to  every  utterance.  The 
wife,  addressing  me,  said:  "My  husbands  instincts 
are  more  prominently  developed  for  his  children,  than 
for  his  wife."  Then  she  looked  him  full  in  the  face 
and  broadly  smiled,  as  if  she  thought  a  good  joke 
had  slipped  off  her  tongue,  and  wondered  how  he 
would  take  it.  He,  like  a  wise  man,  answered  not. 
By  this  I  would  illustrate,  how  T  reprobate,  in  the 
highest  degree,  little  touches  of  that  nature. 

A  gentleman  who  rose  to  eminence  in  his  pro- 
fession, alluding  to  his  wife,  said:  "In  talk,  I  have 
it  by  the  pailful  how  to  do  right;  but  I  had  rather 
see  it  exhibited  in  the  life."  A  wife  should  never 
try  to  be  a  second  conscience  to  her  husband,  remind- 
ing him  continually  of  his  short-comings.  The  ten- 
dency is  to  drift  him  away  from  her,  from  his  home, 
and  from  duty. 

I  once  knew  one,  who  brought  home  a  new 
mother  to  his  orphan  children.  She  was  a  lady  of 
culture  and  principle.  How  her  husband,  cherished 
her !  How  she  revered  him !  How  devoted  she  was 
to  his  children,  as  if  they  were  her  very  own! 

May  you,  in  being  introduced  to  a  new  name,  to 
new  friends,  and  to  a  new  field  of  action,  become  the 
light  of  your  husband's  house,  the  center  of  home, 
that  sacred  spot  of  love  and  harmony,  of  comfort, 
quiet,  and  ease,  that  wealth  alone  cannot  give,  nor 
poverty  take  away. 

Your  loving  grandmother, 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


ARTICLE    IX. 

To  Mrs.  Benfield,   in  North  Carolina. 

Honolulu,  November  12th. 
My  dear  Daughter  Mary: 

I  have  received  your  letters  giving  accounts  of  a 
birth  and  death  in  your  little  family.  And  you  have 
lived  through  it  all.  How  you  have  been  called  alone 
in  the  darkness  and  in  the  storm,  to  walk  a  thorny 
pathway!  And  how  the  departed  one  must  have  suf- 
fered !  But  it  is  a  blessed  path  that  leads  to  a  blessed 
death. 

And  the  little  girl,  my  seventeenth  grandchild. 
You  incidentally  gave  me  a  peep  of  her,  cheering  the 
suffering  with  her  "tiny  smiles."  I  am  glad  that  in 
my  mind  she  is  so  pleasantly  photographed. 

At  present  I  have  the  aid  of  a  school-boy  two 
hours  in  the  morning  and  two  hours  in  the  afternoon. 
I  am  quite  alone  at  night.  My  heart  yearns  for  loving 
companionship. 

As  I  was  once  your  mother,  so  I  now  wish  you 
to  become  mine.  I  wish  to  set  my  house  in  order,  and 
to  die  in  my  own  family.  On  your  entering  my  home, 
I  wish  the  responsibilities  of  the  table  and  house  to 
fall  into  your  hands  absolutely,  I  retaining  my  bed- 
room and  study  as  ever.  Then  I  will  trust  to  you,  as 
you  once  trusted  to  me.  Let  the  children  be  to  the 
house  what  flowers  are  to  the  garden.  While  I  re- 
main, I  live  in  you  and  in  them,  and  you  all  live  in 
me.     When  I   pass  away  you  will  be  my  memorial. 

In    1823  we  separated   from  the   Mission   family 

292 


1874.  203 

at  Honolulu,  and  branched  out  to  form  a  station  at 
Kailua.  With  two  babes  of  two  years  and  two 
months  old,  we  were  closely  packed  five  days  and 
nights  in  a  crowded  native  vessel.  After  reaching 
Kailua,  I  often  said  with  the  utmost  sincerity:  "Never 
ask  me  again  to  go  upon  the  ocean.  Let  me  live  and 
die  here."  So  much  for  the  value  of  sentimental 
feelings,  after  having  suffered  to  extremity.  Since 
that  time,  in  visiting  America,  I  have  been  around 
Cape  Horn,  as  many  times  over  the  way  between  this 
and  California,  and  more  than  a  hundred  on  these 
seas  that  separate  our  group  of  Islands. 

I  have  just  received  a  large  photograph  of  your 
father.  I  have  put  it  in  a  frame  and  encircled  it  in 
the  same  frame  with  small  photographs  of  his  family 
who  are  with  him  in  the  world  of  spirits.  Including 
the  whole  circle,  there  were  four  cut  off  in  the  prime 
of  life,  sustaining  parental  responsibilities,  three  in 
the  bloom  and  vigor  of  youth  between  sixteen  and 
nineteen,  and  three  children  between  sixteen  months 
and  five  years  of  age.  My  Savior,  how  can  I  give 
expression  to  my  gratitude  that  my  dear  departed  ones 
have  found  rest  in  thee?  All,  all.  I  trust,  have  at- 
tained to  that  better  land.  How  pleasant,  how  rich 
the  memories  of  having  such  a  family  in  heaven! 

In  another  large  frame,  your  mother's  large  pho- 
tograph is  in  the  center,  surrounded  by  the  living 
members   of   our    family. 


ARTICLE    X. 

Death  of  a  Grandchild  Five  Months  Old. 

Honolulu,  December  29th,   1874. 

My  dear  Daughter  Mary: 

And  so  little  Ida  was  born,  a  daughter  of  earth, 
thus  early  to  take  her  flight  to  happier  climes.  I,  too, 
had  learned  to  love  her,  and  everywhere  she  follows 
me  with  an  expressive  smile.  Beloved  child!  She 
will  be  reared  by  redeemed  ones  advanced  in  knowl- 
edge, with  more  than  a  mother's  love.  As  her  facul- 
ties develop,  she  will  learn  of  them  her  birth-place, 
who  her  mother  is,  and  with  what  brothers  and  sisters 
her  earth  life  was  grouped.  I  think  of  her  as  be- 
coming a  bright  ministering  spirit,  often  commissioned 
to  be  your  guardian  angel,  to  help  you  to  bear  the 
burdens  of  life,  and  to  lead  you  to  that  heavenly  rest 
to  which  she  has  attained.  Blessed  mother!  I  con- 
gratulate you  in  having  such  an  angel  child  as  little 
Ida.  What  a  precious  offering  to  make  to  God !  It 
may  have  ten  thousand  instructors  in  Heaven,  but 
you  will  be  its  parents.  To  have  a  child  in  Heaven 
is  worth  all  the  sickness,  sorrow,  and  toil  it  has  cost 
you. 

Your  sympathizing 

Mother. 


294 


ARTICLE    XL 

Spring  Succeeds  Winter. 

(After  an  absence  of  more  than  two  years,  Mrs.  Mary  Benfield 
and  three  children  returned  to  her  mother's  home  in  Honolulu,  having 
laid  her  husband  and  infant  daughter  to  rest  beneath  the  pine  trees 
of  their  retreat  in  North  Carolina.  The  widowed  daughter  again  be- 
came the  stay  and  support  of  her  aged  mother.) 

Honolulu,  August,  1875. 

Two  years  and  a  half  in  which,  in  my  family,  I 
have  been  like  a  cocoanut  tree,  stripped  of  every  leaf, 
is  past.  By  the  union  of  remnants  of  three  genera- 
tions, the  solitary  one  is  again  set  in  a  family.  The 
pattering  of  small  feet,  and  the  music  of  little  voices 
is  again  heard.  A  faithful  staff  is  placed  by  my  side 
on  which  to  lean,  and  I  linger  on  the  border  land 
toward  the  setting  sun. 

During  this  past  season  of  discipline,  I  accepted 
my -lot,  and  my  feelings  assimilated  to  my  circum- 
stances. Fear  became  a  stranger  to  my  bosom.  In 
the  long  black  night,  I  enjoyed  the  music  of  nature, 
and  felt  the  sublimity  of  deep  solitude. 

I  am  blest.  I  have  entered  my  eighty-first  year. 
I  have  food,  raiment  and  home  convenient  for  me, 
and  my  latter  days  are  those  of  peace.    . 

Lucy  G.  Thurston. 


295 


ARTICLE    XII. 

To  the  Readers  of  the  Preceding  Pages. 

In  the  spring-  of  1876,  Mrs.  Thurston  was  sud- 
denly attacked  with  a  heart  disease,  which  in  a  few 
weeks  confined  her  to  the  house.  Though  in  dailv 
expectation  of  a  fatal  termination,  her  life  was  pro- 
longed, with  frequent  recurring  spasms  of  pain  and 
extreme  distress  for  breath,  till  six  weary  months 
were  fulfilled.  During  all  this  time  she  was  compelled 
to  sit  upright  in  her  chair  by  day  and  by  night.  De- 
fended by  a  cap,  veil,  and  gloves,  or  a  lace  canopy 
from  the  annoyance  of  mosquitoes,  she  patiently  lin- 
gered through  her  protracted  sufferings,  sometimes 
compelled  by  extremity  of  weariness  to  cry,  "O,  Lord, 
how  long?"  Faithful  friends  cheered  her  painful 
pathway  to  the  grave.  Amid  these  distresses,  she 
completed  her  selection  of  papers  to  be  published  after 
her  death. 

Her  sudden  release  was  thus  announced  in  a 
letter  from  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Benfield,  dated  Ho- 
nolulu,  October   14,   1876:— 

"What  a  joyful  reunion  that  must  have  been, 
when  yesterday  afternoon  at  4  o'clock,  our  suffering 
mother  rejoined  the  husband  of  her  youth  in  the 
'Happy  Land.'  Without  a  word  of  farewell,  she  sud- 
denly left  her  chair  of  suffering,  and  the  loving 
watches  at  her  side,  and  obeyed  the  Voice  that  called : 
Tt  is  enough.  Come  up  higher.'  She  has  been  laid 
to  rest  in  the  same  grave  with  our  father." 

"Her  children  rise  up  and  call  her  Blessed." 

Persis  G.  Taylor. 

Nordhoff.  California,  March,  1880. 
296 


ARTICLE    XIII. 

The  Life  and  Last  Days  of  Lucy  G.  Thurston,  the  Last  of  the  Pioneer 
Missionaries. 

(A   Memorial   Discourse  by  Rev.   Walter  Frear,   Preached   October  22d, 

1876,   in  Fort  St.  Church,   Honolulu.) 

Mark  x:29-30.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said,  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  There  is  no  man  that  hath  left  his  house,  or  brethren,  or 
sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my 
sake,    and   the  gospel's, 

But  he  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold  now  in  this  time,  houses, 
and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands,  with 
persecutions;   and   in   the   world  to   come,    eternal  life. 

I  have  selected  these  words  in  memoriam  of  Mrs. 
Lucy  Goodale  Thurston,  because  they  were  much  in 
her  mind  in  the  last  weeks  of  her  life,  and  because 
she  realized  that  they  had  been  remarkably  fulfilled 
to  her.  The  varied  experiences,  in  view  of  which  she 
appropriated  to  herself  these  words  of  her  Saviour, 
were  vivid  in  her  memory.  Her  thoughts  went  back- 
over  the  past  a  good  deal.  She  thought  of  the  old 
home  in  Marlborough,  Massachusetts,  where  she  was 
born  on  the  29th  of  this  month,  1795.  She  thought 
of  the  large  circle  of  friends  ;  of  the  father,  and  of 
the  eight  or  nine  brothers  and  sisters,  and  of  the 
numerous  respectable  and  godly  uncles  and  aunts  and 
cousins  that  she  had  left,  and  of  all  the  pleasant  asso- 
ciations that  she  had  forsaken ;  and  then  her  thoughts 
would  dwell  on  the  portion  that  she  had  received  on 
these  far-off  islands,  and  the  grateful  feeling  would 
arise  that  it  had  been  far  better  for  her  that  she  had 
left  all.  For  some  months,  and  I  might  say  years, 
she  had  been  living  quite  largely  in  her  reminiscences. 

297 


298  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

Her  pen  had  been  busy  with  them.  The  scenes  of 
earlier  times  were  before  her  mind  daily.  She  lived 
over  again  the  experiences  through  which  she  had 
passed  to  an  unusual  degree ;  so  that  it  was  with  more 
than  an  ordinary  significance  that  she  with  clear  re- 
memberance,  and  in  direct  reference  to  all  that  she 
had  lost  and  gained,  suffered  and  enjoyed,  opened  her 
Bible  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  pointing  with  her  finger 
to  this  passage,  said  to  me,  "This  has  all  been  true 
in  my  case." 

Let  us  see  how  true  it  has  been. 

It  was  in  a  literal  sense  that  she  left  houses  and 
friends  and  country  for  Christ's  sake.  She,  at  the 
time,  had  no  thought  of  the  mild,  healthful  breezes 
of  Hawaii,  that  now  invite  so  many  from  the  colder 
climate  of  the  States.  She  had  no  thought  of  the 
grand  mountains  and  volcanoes  that  now  attract  the 
tourist,  and  are  counted  among  the  wonders  of  the 
earth.  There  was  no  anticipation  of  the  delightful 
homes  and  genial  society  that  in  late  years  have  given 
to  these  islands  a  charm.  She  left  a  land  and  home 
to  which  she  was  greatly  endeared,  to  go  by  long 
and  dangerous  voyage,  to  one  of  the  most  remote 
and  least  known  parts  of  the  earth,  to  a  people  in 
the  greatest  of  heathenish  darkness,  a  people  among 
whom  life  was  cheap,  and  that  offered  human  sacri- 
fices, and  had  fearful  regulations  of  tabu,  and  were 
naked  savages.  She  and  all  on  board  the  brig  Thad- 
deus,  as  Dr.  Anderson  says,  "Expected  a  protracted 
and  perilous  conflict  with  pagan  rites,  human  sacri- 
fices and  bloody  altars  ;  for  no  intimation  had  been 
received  that  the  idols  and.  altars  of  superstition  had 
been    otherthrown."      We    can    also    readilv    imagine 


1876.  299 

with  what  a  grave  appreciation  and  consciousness  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  sacred  mission,  she  gave  her- 
self to- he  a  missionary.  I  doubt  if  ever  a  missionary 
surrendered  home  and  friends,  to  take  up  so  great 
and  critical  a  work  for  Christ,  with  a  deeper  sense 
of  what  we  might  call  the  ideal  proprieties  of  so  high 
a  calling.  It  was  in  a  spirit  far  from  levity,  and  in 
which  human  loves  had  but  a  second  place  while 
Christ  had  the  first,  that  she  was  not  disobedient  unto 
the  heavenly  call.  It  was  in  a  seriousness  and  hero- 
ism that  takes  one's  life  in  his  hands  that  she  left  the 
comforts  of  a  pleasant  home,  expecting  a  rude  hut  to 
he  her  habitation,  and  that  what  had  been  necessaries 
of  life  were  henceforth  to  be  to  her  luxuries.  In 
place  of  the  refinements  of  society,  she  was  to  come 
in  contact  with  gross  ignorance,  disgusting  vices, 
brutish  drunkenness  and  all  unnamable  immoralities. 
Thus  she  forsook  all.  , 

Among  other  things  in  leaving  all  for  Christ  and 
the  Gospel's  sake,  she  at  that  time  gave  up  the  thought 
of  a  long  life.  Her  stronger  brothers  and  sister  were 
around  her.  She  was  thought  to  be  the  frailest  of  them 
all.  She  had  already  had  premonition  of  early  disease 
in  the  lungs,  with  attacks  of  hemorrhage.  Her  doubt 
was.  whether  she  could  endure  the  tropical  heats  and 
exposures  to  which  she  expected  to  be  subjected.  It 
was  thought  that  amid  the  hardships  and  privations 
there  she  would  find  an  early  grave.  When  speaking 
of  this  passage  of  scripture  and  its  fulfillment  to  her, 
she  said  to  me,  "All  at  home  thought  that  Lucy  would 
be  the  first  to  die."  She  herself  thought  so.  They 
all  had  no  other  thought,  than  that  in  that  heathen  land 
her  life  would  go  first.     They  bade  her  farewell,  as 


300  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

one  whom  they  never  expected  to  see  again  on  earth. 
She  would  be  in  heaven  long  before  the  rest  of  them. 
"But,"  said  she,  "here  I  am  still,  spared  the  longest 
of  them  all.  All  those  brothers  and  sisters  are  gone 
before  me.  Not  one  of  them  is  left."  Thus  she  gave 
her  life  to  Christ,  expecting  that  the  giving  of  it  would 
shorten  it,  and  he  has  given  her  more  years  than  would 
have  been  hers  if  she  had  kept  her  life.  She  found 
the  words  of  Christ  true,  that  "he  that  loseth  his  life 
for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  She  thought  of  this  length- 
ening of  days  as  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  hundred- 
fold had  been  given  to  her.  She  felt  confident  that 
long  ago  she  would  have  been  in  her  grave  had  she 
staid  in  the  old  New  England  home.  But  as  it  is, 
she  has  been  spared  to  outlive  by  a  day  the  57th  an- 
niversary of  her  marriage,  and  to  almost  complete  her 
81st  year.  And  instead  of  never  looking  upon  the 
faces  of  the  home  friends,  in  the  ordering  of  Provi- 
dence she  has  been  permitted  twice  to  visit  the  land 
of  her  birth.  She  has  doubled  Cape  Horn  five  times, 
has  traveled  over  90,000  miles  by  sea,  has  been  through 
perils  and  sicknesses,  and  prevailing  diseases,  and  yet 
God  has  suffered  her  to  be  the  last  to  die  on  these 
islands,  of  all  that  worthy  pioneer  band  who  sailed 
in  the  brig  Thaddeus  on  the  23d  of  October,  1819, 
and  landed  in  the  following  April  at  Kailua. 

Again,  among  the  things  that  she  forsook  for 
Christ  and  the  Gospel's  sake,  was  any  cherished  am- 
bition that  she  might  have  had,  any  thought  of  being 
known,  esteemed  and  honored  among  her  acquaint- 
ances, or  of  having  a  name  and  a  place  in  the  world. 
Those  were  first  days  in  the  missionary  work.    Honor 


1876.  301 

had  not  come  upon  those  who  had  gone  to  carry  the 
lamp  of  life  into  the  regions  of  darkness.  The  mis- 
sionary cross  had  not  yet  been  garlanded  in  the  popu- 
lar esteem.  The  work  had  not  yet  taken  to  itself 
other  aspects  than  that  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  sake 
of  those  perishing  in  ignorance  and  sin,  To  come  at 
that  time  to  these  dark  islands  was  the  conscious 
giving  up  of  personal  culture,  and  of  place  in  society, 
and  of  influence  in  the  progressive  development  of 
one's  own  country.  It  was  going  out  to  unknown 
ends  of  the  earth,  to  spend  one's  days  in  humblest 
work  of  teaching  a  gross  and  degraded  people ;  to 
have  one's  faith  and  patience  tried,  and  to  lay  one's 
body  at  last  among  heathen  bones,  instead  of  in  the 
old  village  church-yard.  But  how  true  it  is  that  God 
has  given  her  more  than  all  that  she  gave  up  in  this 
respect.  Her  name  is  a  familiar  name  to  a  large 
part  of  the  best  people  in  America.  She  is  known 
and  held  in  honor  over  a  large  part  of  the  Christian 
world.  She  has  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  thousands 
who  probably  would  never  have  heard  her  name  had 
she  not  left  society  and  kindred  for  Christ's  sake. 
She  has  received  more  than  a  hundred-fold  in  friends. 
Her  influence  has  been  far  more  widely  extended. 
She  has  a  noble  place  in  the  grand  history  of  mis- 
sions. She  has  a  high  niche  in  missionary  fame. 
And  is  there  any  fame  better,  or  more  to  be  desired 
on  earth,  than  that  which  now  belongs  to  such  heroes 
of  the  cross?  Does  not  a  true  missionary  receive  a 
wider  regard  and  a  higher  place  in  the  thoughts  and 
love  of  the  Christian  world  than  would  have  been 
his  if  he  had  stayed  in  his  native  land?  There  may 
be  still  some  who  think  it  a  pity  that  any  one  of  cul- 
ture and  of  promise  should  throw  himself  away,  by 
abandoning  prospective  positions  of  influence  at  home. 


302  Life   of  Lucy   G.    Thurston. 

to  be  a  humble  missionary  in  out-of-the-way  pagan 
lands.  But  God  gives,  in  honor  and  esteem,  to  his 
faithful  ones,  manifold  more  than  all  they  surrender. 

Mrs.  Thurston  thought  not  of  this  at  the  time, 
nor  did  she  speak  of  it  in  connection  with  the  pas- 
sage of  scripture,  but  we  may  speak  of  it  for  her. 
She  did,  however,  think  and  speak  of  the  many 
friends,  the  Christian  brothers  and  sisters,  that  God 
had  given  her  in  missionary  life.  She  thought  grate- 
fully of  the  interest  that  had  been  taken  in  her,  of 
the  favors  that  had  been  done  to  her,  of  the  kind- 
nesses and  assistance  that  had  been  generously  given, 
and  of  all  that  God  had  put  into  the  heart  of  others 
to  do  for  her.  She  felt  that  she  had  not  been  left 
friendless,  but  that  the  promise  in  this  respect  had 
been  fulfilled,  that  the  hundred-fold  had  been  given, 
that  more  hands  had  ministered  to  her  in  her  last 
sickness  than  she  could  have  expected  had  she  never 
left  all  for  heathen  shores. 

But  in  a  yet  higher  respect  has  it  been  better  for 
Mrs.  Thurston  that  she  left  home  and  friends  for 
Christ.  I  mean  in  her  usefulness.  God  can  give  us 
few  great  blessings  that  will  add  more  happiness  to 
life  than  to  put  it  in  our  power  to  be  really  useful. 
That  which  adds  to  our  usefulness  adds  to  the  good 
of  our  life.  Much  has  been  added  to  Mrs.  Thurston 
in  this  respect.  In  the  days  of  her  strength  she  was 
a  faithful  worker,  and  the  good  that  she  has  been 
permitted  to  do  has  doubtless  been  a  hundred-fold 
more  than  she  would  have  done  in  New  England. 
Among  her  first  pupils  were  Kings  and  Queens,  whose 
influence  soon  led  the  people  generally  to  desire  gospel 
instruction.      She   was   the   educator  of   some  of   the 


1876.  303 

first  minds  in  the  nation.  Judge  Ii,  who  became 
such  an  honor  to  his  race,  was  early  selected  by  the 
King  to  be  instructed  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thurston, 
and  he  was  long  their  diligent  scholar,  receiving  much 
of  his  solid  worth  and  finish  from  them.  She  endured 
hardiness  as  a  good  soldier  in  that  earnest  fight  to 
secure  a  hold  for  the  gospel  on  Hawaii.  She  stood 
firm  while  others  failed.  She  suffered,  passed  through 
exceeding  great  trials,  persevered  and  was  brave,  as 
some  others  were  not.  She  had  a  full  share  in 
those  trials,  and  burdens,  and  hardships,  and  dan- 
gers through  which  the'  mission  was  brought  to  a 
success,  and  a  heathen  people  Christianized.  How 
much  greater  is  the  work  that  she  has  been  permitted 
to  do,  than  if  she  had  stayed  in  her  native  land!  How 
many  more  inquiring  souls  has  she  directed  to  Christ; 
how  much  more  has  she  done  in  preparing  the  way 
for  the  coming  of  Christ's  kingdom !  It  has  been 
granted  to  her  to  fulfill  a  great  and  useful  ministry; 
and  will  there  not  be  more  stars  in  her  crown  of  re- 
joicing, than  if  she  had  not  left  all  for  Christ's  sake? 
Has  not  even  her  present  life  been  more  full  of  the 
satisfactions  that  come  from  a  noble  Christian  use- 
fulness ? 

It  may  be  said  of  her  also  that  in  giving  up  all 
for  Christ,  she  has  at  no  time  wished  to  take  back 
any  part  of  the  gift.  She  has  never  turned  her  look 
regretfully  back  to  her  first  consecration  to  the  mis- 
sionary life.  And  by  this  I  do  not  mean  simply  that 
she  did  not  leave  the  field  through  disappointment, 
or  as  thinking  it  too  hard ;  or  that  she  has  never  been 
sorry  that  she  became  a  missionary;  but  I  mean  that 
she  has  never  taken  back  the  original  surrender  in 
which  she  gave  up  the  world  to  be  a  missionary  of 
the  cross.     She  has  not  departed  from  the  missionary 

21 


304  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

spirit  with  which  she  left  home.  Having  left  houses 
and  lands  for  Christ's  sake,  the  desire  for  these  has 
never  come  back  into  her.  The  fashions  and  riches  of 
this  world  have  not  reoccupied  her  thoughts.  She 
did  not  again  come  to  measure  men  and  things  by 
the  standards  of  the  world,  nor  to  seek  that  which 
is  coveted  by  the  world.  She  thought  of  herself  as 
.a  missionary  unto  the  end.  She  never  aspired  to  wear 
any  other  character,  or  to  appear  before  the  world 
in  any  other  light.  Naturally  she  had  strong  desires. 
She  enjoyed  life.  She  was  hopeful.  She  had  a  strong 
mind,  and  a  strong  self-will.  As  she  said  to  me  the 
day  before  her  death,  she  had  a  great  deal  of  human 
nature.  She  had  those  traits  and  qualities  that  would 
have  enabled  her  to  take  hold  of  the  world  and  be 
prominent  in  it.  But  she  never  again  turned  toward 
the  world  to  covet  it.  To  be  a  missionary,  and  to  do 
that  which  was  becoming  in  a  missionary,  to  suffer, 
if  need  be,  and  be  true  to  her  calling,  was  her  thought 
to  the  last. 

Among  the  mercies  also  in  which  she  saw  God's 
gracious  dealings  with  her,  was  his  sparing  her  to  do 
last  things.  By  degrees  during  the  last  six  years 
there  has  been  growing  in  her  the  inclination  and 
the  feeling  of  duty,  encouraged  by  others,  to  leave 
behind  her  some  reminiscences  of  earlier  missionary 
days — a  view  of  the  work  as  seen  from  the  inside, 
and  that  by  the  mothers,  instead  of  the  fathers.  A 
mass  of  material  was  in  hand  for  such  a  work.  Her 
pen  had  ever  been  a  good  deal  in  her  hand,  and  she 
had  from  the  first  carefully  treasured  her  letters  and 
sketches,  all  of  them  written  in  her  quaint  and  pleas- 
ing style,  bearing  the  impress  of  originality,  and  show- 
ing her  own  individuality  in  every  sentence.     When 


1876.  305 

her  last  sickness  fell  upon  her  so  suddenly,  she  felt 
that  it  was  her  last.  Her  strong  desire  was,  that  she 
might  survive  until  she  could  collate  and  arrange  this 
material.  And  so  hourly,  day  after  day,  and  some- 
times by  night,  as  she  sat  in  her  chair,  now  writing 
and  dictating,  she  busied  herself  as  she  had  strength, 
with  this  her  last  work.  She  cared  to  be  spared  for 
nothing  else.  God  gave  her  her  desire,  enabling  her 
to  leave  her  material  so  that  it  could  be  readily  fin- 
ished in  satisfactory  shape  for  the  press.  At  length 
she  came  to  the  time  about  three  months  ago  when 
she  felt  that  her  work  was  done,  and  that  she  was 
ready  to  be  taken.  In  her  former  sicknesses  she  had 
clung  to  life.  She  had  seemed  to  baffle  the  power  of 
diseases  by  the  sheer  force  of  her  will  to  live.  She 
had  held  to  life  feeling  that  there  were  responsibilities 
and  work  that  she  could  not  yet  lay  down.  She  had 
braved  the  surgeon's  knife,  and  had  risen  up  out  of 
prostrations,  beneath  which  most  persons  would  prob- 
ably have  succumbed.  But  in  her  last  sickness,  she 
felt  that  she  had  finished  her  course,  and  that  she 
was  ready  to  be  offered.  She  waited  day  and  night 
in  great  physical  discomfort,  and  wondered  that  she 
was  still  kept  in  life,  and  almost  feared  that  months 
more  of  suffering  were  appointed  to  her.  A  few 
hours  and  even  minutes  before  her  death,  the  end 
seemed  no  nearer  to  her  than  it  did  a  month  or  two 
before.  But  God  at  last  took  her  quickly  out  of  her 
distresses,  into  the  rest  for  which  she  was  longing. 
In  the  last  few  weeks  of  her  life  she  also  came  to 
feel  that  God  was  sparing  yet  a  little  for  a  purpose, 
especially  that  she  might  learn  more  of  the  fullness 
of  Christ,  and  come  more  into  the  peace  that  passes 
understanding,  and  have  wrought  in  her  more  of  the 


306  Life   of  Lucy   G.   Thurston. 

gentler  graces.  Months  ago,  and  in  fact  for  years, 
the  experiences  beyond  this  life,  what  it  is  to  die,  and 
just  what  will  be  immediately  after  death,  and  just 
what  the  resurrection  is,  were  themes  that  interested 
her  and  occupied  her  thoughts  a  good  deal.  She 
thought  and  reasoned  and  loved  to  talk  about  them. 
She  has  often  in  years  as  well  as  months  past  opened 
up  conversation  in  regard  to  them.  But  in  the  last 
few  weeks  she  has  wanted  to  know  more  about  the 
present  indwelling  of  Christ,  and  how  much  his  prom- 
ise of  peace  included.  She  became,  we  might  almost 
say,  an  anxious  inquirer  in  this  direction.  The  week 
before  her  death,  as  she  asked  question  after  ques- 
tion about  the  peace  of  Christ  in  the  soul,  she  told 
me  that  she  felt  that  she  had  yet  very  much  to  learn. 
The  most  earnest  conversation  I  ever  had  with  her 
was  the  day  before  her  death.  I  had  hardly  taken 
my  seat  at  her  side  before  she  began  with  an  inquiry 
that  came  right  from  her  heart.  Repeating  Christ's 
words — "Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock;  if 
any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  in  to  him  and  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me" — 
she  asked,  with  a  manifest  interest,  and  a  childlike 
spirit  of  inquiry,  what  it  was  to  open  the  door,  and 
how  she  could  do  it  more  fully,  that  Jesus  might  come 
in  more,  and  sup  with  her.  She  sought  for  direction 
in  receiving  the  Savior  in  greater  fullness  to  her  heart. 
Her  faith  had  been  strong  and  firm  in  Christ.  Her 
hope  had  all  along  been  anchored  within  the  veil. 
She  had  trusted  fully  in  the  God  of  her  salvation. 
She  had  not  doubted  his  love  or  care  of  the  crown 
of  life  that  he  had  for  her.  She  not  only  had  a  mind 
of  unusual  strength  but  also  the  courage  of  faith  to 


1876.  307 

an  unusual  degree.  She  had  been  strong  to  do,  to 
bear,  to  suffer  for  Christ.  The  elements  of  strength 
had  always  been  prominent  in  her  character.  She 
did  not  like  foibles.  She  was  naturally  commanding 
in  her  qualities,  and  perhaps  somewhat  in  her  tem- 
perament ;  and  so  long  as  she  could  work,  these  strong 
traits  had  their  easy  and  joyful  play  in  her  life.  But 
now  when  all  her  work  was  done,  and  she  could  only 
sit  'and  be  patient,  it  was  a  change  of  life  to  her.  It 
was,  as  it  were,  a  trial  of  faith  in  a  new  direction. 
New  lessons  seemed  to  be  coming  to  her  to  be  learned. 
She  realized  more  deeply  the  importance  of  receiving 
from  Christ,  as  well  as  doing  for  him.  She  had  been 
patient  under  responsibility ;  and  now  with  some 
chafing  of  spirit  it  may  be,  she  was  seeking  to  learn 
to  be  patient  without  any  responsibility  pressing  on 
her.  She  would  sit  at  Jesus'  feet  and  learn  of  him. 
The  sanctifying  love  of  Christ  pervading  her  nature 
is  what  she  thought  upon  and  desired.  The  gentle- 
ness and  childlike  submissiveness  of  the  Christian 
spirit  seemed  to  her  graces  more  difficult  to  exercise 
and  be  filled  with,  than  the  hardier  and  braver  vir- 
tues. But  these  also  she  was  learning  as  last  lessons, 
deeply  and  blessedly,  in  the  very  hours  when  her 
Saviour  came  and  received  her  to  himself. 

Her  life  surely  impresses  upon  us  all  the  great 
truth,  that  Christ  will  deal  well  by  those  who  make 
sacrifices  for  Him,  and  that  His  promise  of  the  hun- 
dred-fold in  this  life  to  those  who  leave  all  for  him, 
is  a  sure  promise.  It  is  a  promise  on  which  no  one 
of  us  need  fear  to  go  out  in  self-denying  service  to 
Christ.  The  life  of  Mrs.  Thurston  leaves  to  her  chil- 
dren and  to  her  grandchildren  and  to  us  all,  the  con- 
firmation of  this  promise,  as  a  rich  legacy. 


INDEX 


References  are  to  pages.     With  very  slight  variations  occasioned  by  modern   methods 
of    typesetting,    the    paging   is    the    same    in    both    the   first   and   second   editions. 


Adams,    Gov.,   see  Kuakini 

American    Bible    and    Tract    Society,    238 

American     Board     of     Commissioners     for 

Foreign    Missions,    3,    8,    10,    13,    14,    34, 

100-1,    117,    141-2,    186,    190,    196,    238, 

240 
Anderson,     Dr.    Rufus,     134,    298 
Andover     Theological     Institution,     3,     5 
Andrews,    Dr.    and    Mrs.,    94,    136-7,     141, 

143,     146,     160 
Andrews,    Rev.    and   Mrs.    (Lahaina),    109- 

110 
Armstrong,    Rev.    and    Mrs.,    117,    145 
Assault,    24,    49-51 
Bartimeus,     Blind,     236-7,     240 
Belgium,     238 
Benfield,      Mrs.      Mary      (Thurston),      160, 

164-8,   175,   178-181,  272,  280,  292,  294, 

296 
Bennet,    Mr.    George,    205 
Benson,     Mr.,     149 
Bingham,     Rev.     H.,     7,     13,     15,     24,     34, 

53,    117,    118,    121,    143,    186,    197,    200 
Bishop,     Rev.     and     Mrs.,     72,     89,     91-95, 

96,   99,    104,    106-9,    115,    118,    121,    130, 

133-4 
Bissell,   Rev.   Mr.,    196 
Black    Hole    of    Calcutta,    106 
Blacksmith     of     Kamehameha     I.,     217-220 
Blanchard,    Capt.,    18,    22,   23,    24,    34,   231 
Boston,    Mass.,    7,    13.    14,    18,    33,    34,    38, 

125,     149,    185,     196,    232,    241 
Bradford    Academy,     72,     248 
Brayton,    Dr.,     170-3 
Bucklin,     Mr.    and    Mrs.,     7 
California,     18,     189,     285:     Oakland,     273 
Cape    Horn,    22,     33,     68,     145,     164,     165, 

207,     293,     300 
Catechism,     86 
Chamberlain,    Mr.    Daniel,    and    family,    1 4, 

29,     33,     64,     68,     113,     209-210,     275 
Chamberlain,    Miss    M.    A.,    287 
Chapin,    Dr.    and    Mrs.,    124 

308 


Chaplain     of    Greek    Church,     55 

Chinese,    38,    39,     137,     169 

Christianity,     1,    23,    47,     69,     79-81,    93-4, 

113,  128,     137-8,     216,     217-220,     234, 
238,     301,     303 

Church,    2,    17,    29,    65,    67,    81,    86-7,    94, 

114,  120-1,    124,    180,    196,    232,    235 
Church     Buildings     at     Kailua,     135,     211- 

213,     221-2 
Clarke,    Mary,     124 
"Cleopatra,"    The    Barge.    53 
Clothing,    29,    30-35,    41,    53,    63,    70,    213, 

275 
Coan,    Mrs.    T.,     124.     136,    144 
Connecticut    River,    8 
Constitution,    238,    277 
Conversion,    1,   8-12,    212,   218,   225,    236-7, 

240 
Cook,    Capt.    James.     186,    230 
Cornwall,     Conn.,     239 
Corwin,    Rev.    Eli,     176,     190 
Court    Etiquette,    44,    45,    88 
Cox,    Gov.    of   Maui    (Keeaumoku),    65,    76 
Cummings,   Mr.,   wife   and  sister,    149,    151, 

157 

D.,     Capt.,     67 

Davis,     Isaac,    240 

Delia,     wife    of    Hopu,     69-70,    214 

Dick,    Honest,    37 

Dickson,     Mrs.     Laura.     273 

Dream,     Prophetic,     12-13 

E.,     Deacon,     67-8 

Education,    36,    42,    43.    60,    63-66,    70,    84, 

88,     90,     114,     120,     147-8,     204-5,    212, 

238,    241-249 
Education     of     Missionary     Children,      see 

Thurston,    Mrs.    Lucy    G. 
Ellis,    Rev.    Wm.,    113,    206-207 
Ely,    Mr.,     150 
Emma,    Queen,    202 
England,    238,    241 
Evarts,    Jeremiah,    14  ' 
Ewa,     133-4 


INDEX 


Exploring     Expedition,     Russian,     56 

Fitchburg,     Mass.,     6 

Food,    18,    20-21,    27,    28,    30,    32,    34.    35, 

38,    40-41,    45,    52,    56,    59,    71,    74,    81, 

126,    138,    143,    213-4,    223,    236,    267-8, 

273 
Forbes,    Rev.    A.    O.,     and    family,     133-4, 

13  7 
Ford,     Dr.,     168-174 

Fort    Street    Church,     180,     196.     199,    297 
France,    238 
Frear,    Rev.    W.,    297 
French    Hostilities,    143 
"Friend,"    The,     273 
Fry,    Mrs.,    127 
General     Meeting     of     Mission,     106,      110, 

117,      119,      125,      131,      133-5,      138-9, 

142-3,     159,     168,     287 

Goodale,    Deacon    Abner,    and    Mrs.,    3,    6, 

20,    61,     78,    229,    241-9 
Goodale,     Eliza,     5,     19 
Goodale,    Elizabeth,     133 

Goodale,    Lucy,  see  Thurston,   Mrs.  Lucy  G. 
Goodale,    Lydia,     132 
Goodale,   Meliscent,     5,     19 
Goodale,   Nathan,     7,     106     (?) 
Goodell     (Goodale),     Rev.     Win.     and     Mrs.. 

3-7,    13,    100,    117 
Goodell,    Mr.     (father    of    preceding),    5 
Goshen,    Conn.,     7 
Grandmothers'    Tea    Party,    273-8 
Hainan      (fictitious     name     for     captain     <>t" 

sailing     vessel),     250-271 

Hawaii    Island,    25,    29,    64,    79,    82,    106, 

133,     136,     144,     186,     214 
Hawaiian     Board    of    Missions,     197,     199 
Hawaiian   Mission    Children's    Society,    2  76. 

287 
Hewahewa,     26,     28 
Hillebrand,     Dr.,     168 
Hilo,     124,     132,     136,     143,     144,     298 
Hitchcock,     Mrs.,     124 
Hoffman,    Dr.,     170-3 

Holman,    Dr.    and    Mrs.,    14,    32,    39,    47 
Homes,     Mrs.     Isabelle,     125 
Honolii,     John,     14,     25,     26,     86-7 


Honolulu,  36,  47,  .",1.  53-54,  70,  77,  91, 
106,  112,  124,  135,  1  13,  1  15,  168, 
189,  206,  228,  239,  240,  270,  273, 
278,     293 

Hoopili-kane,     233 

Hopu,  Thomas,  14,  25-26,  30,  34,  36, 
38,    50,    59,    64,    69-70,    78-80,    214 

Howe,    Lucy,    7 

Hualalai,    82,    187 

Hula,     60 

Hunnewell,  James  (male  of  the  Thad- 
deus),    26 

Idolatry,    18,    26-28,    33,    36,    40 

Ii,    John,    42,    240,    303 

Indian,     10-11 

Infanticide,     202-3 

Intoxication,      24,     42.     49,     52,     80.     218. 

231,  299 

Iron     Cable     of     Hawaii,     see     Kalanimoku 
Irving,     Frances,     7 

■larves     History,     143 

Jubilee    of    Arrival    of    Mission.     197-200 
Judd,     Dr.     and    Mrs.,     131-3,     170-1,     273 
Judson,     Mrs.,     120 

Kaahumanu,  27,  54.  64-65,  113,  212, 
216,     232,     239,     240 

Kaenaku,     223-226 

Kahuhu,     James,     42,     50 

Kailua,  32-33,  36.  51,  53,  74,  76  77, 
82-83,  88,  91,  94.  104,  110,  115,  117, 
121-2,  124-5.  135-6,  143.  155-8,  168, 
174.  186-7,  190-1,  211.  212.  2212. 
230,     293,     300 

Kalakua,    31-33,    233 

Kalanimoku    (Ealaimoku),    30-33,    3."..    52, 

232,  275 

Kalaniopuu     (Kalaiopuu).     1 
Kamamalu.     36,     38,     41,    231,     236 
Kamehameha  I,     1,     23,     26,     30.      10  11, 

H7-88,     201,     217.     238.     240 
Kamehameha   II,    see    Liholiho 
Kamehameha    III.    see    ECauikeaouli 
Kamehameha    V,     188 
Kaiieohe.    143 
Kanui,    Win..    1  I.    25 
Kapa.     30-31,     64,    237 
Kapiolani,    74,    1  13,     L37,    21  I.    232 


10 


INDEX 


Kapulikoliko,     88 

Kapus,     18,    26-27,    53,    56,     71,    97,    240, 

276-7 
Kauai,     64 

Kauikeaouli,    49     (?),    143,    238,    276 
Kaumualii     (misprint    Kaumualu,     p.     63), 

23,     64 
Kaumualii,     George     (son     of     preceding), 

23,    35,     232 
Kawaihae,    30,    32 
Kealakekua,     137 

Keeaumoku,   see  Cox,   Gov.  of  Maui 
Kekaha,     120 
Keopuolani,     26,     240 
Kiauhou,     120-1 

Kluegel,     Mrs.     Mary     (Taylor),     285 
Kuakini,    Gov.   Adams   of   Hawaii,    76,    103, 

136,    211-214,    227-8 

Lahaina,     75-6,     107-110,     124 

Laniakea,    Home    and    Cave,    85 

Liholiho,     26,     34-36,     39,     41-43,     45,     51, 

53-55,     57-8,     60,     70,     76,     187-8,     191, 

236-240,     303 
London     Missionary      Society,      205,      228, 

275 
Loomis,    Mr.    and    Mrs.,    14,    59,    73 
Luau,     40-41,     45,     240 
Lyons,     Rev.     Mr.,     134 

Marlboro,  Mass.,  2-3,  6-7,  20,  106,  149, 
241-9,     297 

Marquesas,     117,     206,     208 

Marriage    Custom   of   Hawaiians,    64 

Marshman,    Mrs.,     120 

Maternal    Association,     134,    287 

Maui,     51-53,     64,     69,     106,     237 

Mauna    Kea,     26,     186-7 

Mauna    Loa,    186-7 

Mission  House  at  Honolulu,  57-8,  60.  63, 
206-7,    240 

Mission  to  Sandwich  Islands,  3,  8,  13-16, 
18,  23,  36,  40,  42-3,  47,  50,  54,  58, 
113,  119,  124,  134,  138,  141-2,  200, 
238,     276,     287 

Missionaries,  3,  22,  28-29,  35-36,  38,  44, 
47,  51,  53-54,  57-8,  65,  67-8,  72,  80, 
111-113,  116-17,  119-120,  125-131, 
140-3,    159,    189-190,    194,    198,   205-210, 


215-16,     219,     223,     228,     232-35,     240, 
276,    299,    301,    303-4 
Moses,    87,    139 

Naihe,     74,     214-15 

National    Mourning,     40-1,    201 

New    England,     115,     241-247,     299,     302 

New   York,    149,    151,    250 

Oahu,    64,    117,    124,    144,    212,    214 

Obookiah,    1,    3,    5,    29,    236,    238-9 

Ogden,    Miss,    109 

Opposition    of    Foreigners,    58,    232-5,    240 

Park   Street   Church,    Boston,    14,    17,    196 

Parkhurst,    Mrs.    Mary,     137 

Parkhurst,    Mrs.    Persis    Goodale,    2-3,    12- 

13,    19,    72,    95,    111 
Parkhurst,    The    second    Mrs.,    Ill 
Pa-u,    31,     41 
Payson,    Dr.,    95 

Priests,    26-8,    34,    49-51,    56,    126,    139 
Printing,    64-5,     105,     114,    246 
Protestants,     128,    238 
Prudential  Committee,  see  American  Board 

of    Foreign     Missions 
Pulukai,    98-100 
Punahou    School,    276 
Rice,    Sophia,    7 
Richards,     Rev.     and    Mrs.,     75,     109-110, 

119,     124,     233 
Rising,     Rev.     F.     S.,     185 
Roman     Catholics,     128 
Ruggles,   Mr.   and   Mrs.,    14,   32,    106,   108, 

121 
Russian    Commodore,    55-6 

Sermons,    42,    70,    120,    130,    185-195,    297- 

307 
Sharks,     24-5 

Society    Islands,    113,    149,    210 
South    Sea    Islands,    68,     185,    205 
Spaulding,     Mrs.,     95 
Spring,    Dr.,    150 
Staten    Island,    22 
Stewart,    Rev.    C.    S.,    75,    124 
Strait    of    Le    Marie,    22 

Taboos,    see    Kapus 

Tahitian     Missionaries,     205-9 

Taylor,    James    T.,    280 


[NDEX 


11 


Taylor,  Mrs.  Persis  Goodale  (Thurston), 
and  Mr.  (Rev.  T.  E.),  61,  151-5,  159, 
168-175,    182,    250,    272,    279-280,    296 

Terra   Del  Fuego,   22 

Thaddeus,  The  Brig,  18,  29-30,  32-33, 
37-38,  65,  101,  185-6,  232,  239,  298, 
300 

Theft,    24,    48 

Thomas,     Admiral,     238 

Thurston,  Asa,  3,  5-7,  12,  15,  17,  24-5, 
34,  40,  46,  51,  54,  60-2,  64,  70,  75-7, 
79-80,  84,  86,  92-3,  98,  100,  103,  107- 
110,  116,  118,  121-5,  129,  133,  135, 
137,  139,  142,  146,  149,  152,  155,  159, 
160,  163,  168,  174-5,  182-196,  207, 
211,  215,  221-2,  239,  256,  270,  272, 
293 

Thurston,    Asa    G.,    144,    155,    168-178 

Thurston,    Helen,    280 

Thurston,   Henry,     144,     280 

Thurston,  Lorrin  A.,  280,  and  as  author 
of    introduction     to    second    edition.. 

Thurston,  Mrs.  Lucy  Goodale,  accommo- 
dations at  Honolulu,  54-5,  63 ;  advice 
to  young  missionaries,  136-7;  arrival, 
25,  29-33,  231,  274;  confidence  and 
conviction,  21-2,  48,  303,  306-7;  death, 
296;  decision,  3,  5,  249,  289,  299;  dis- 
tressing voyage,  New  York  to  Honolulu, 
249-269;  duties  as  mother,  friend  and 
teacher,  66,  81-2,  96-100,  103,  125-133, 
189,  303;  education  of  own  children, 
101-2,  113-4,  116,  120-4,  127-131,  134, 
138-42,  147-8,  209-210,  275-6;  embar- 
kation, 13-18;  female  meetings,  89-91, 
103,  120;  first  Sunday  School,  86-8;  first 
visit  to  New  England,  145,  149-151; 
first  voyage  to  Sandwich  Islands,  18-25  : 
hardships  and  problems,  20,  43,  45, 
52-3,  74-5,  77,  106,  111,  126,  129, 
145-6,  249-69,  303 ;  homes  in  Kailua, 
37,    43,    47-8,    50,     83-5,     124,     126-131, 


226-7,;  horseback  riding,  227-8;  ideal 
of  home,  78;  illness,  61-2,  106-110, 
141-2,  146,  160-3,  168-175,  226-7,  229- 
230,  299,  305;  luxuries,  54;  memorial 
sermon,  297-307;  preparations  for 
marriage  and  voyage,  6,  12-13;  prepar- 
ations for  last  days,  278-9;  refusal  to 
give  away  child,  88;  removal  to  Hono- 
lulu, 196;  removal  to  Maui,  51;  return 
to  Kailua,  74-5,  124,  14:s,  155-8,  175; 
second  visit  to  New  England,  163; 
Thanksgiving  dinner,  2  73;  writings  and 
reminiscences,      197-295,     297-307. 

Thurston,  Miss  Lucy  Goodale,  149-151, 
153-4,     158,    163 

Thurston,   Mary,    see    Benfield,    Mrs.    M.    T. 

Thurston,    Persis,    see    Taylor,    Mrs.    P.    G. 

Thurston,    Robert,     175,    280-5 

Thurston,  Mrs.  Sarah  (Andrews),  175, 
177,    280 

Thurston,  Thomas,  161,  169,  174-5,  178, 
180 

Tyerman,     Rev.    Daniel,     205 

Umi,    Temple   of,    187 
United   States,    238,    241 

Valparaiso,     250-269 
Volcanic     action,     82 

Waverly,    The    Brig,    106 

Whales,     18 

Whitney,     S.    W.,     and     Mrs..     14.    29,    47, 

109,    118,    121,    197,    240 
Winne,    Mrs.    Lucy     (Taylor),    280,    288 
Witt,    Susan,    7 
Women,    18,    29,    32,    43,    44,    46,    56,    69, 

71,    73,    81-2,    199,    203,    206-9,    213-14, 

218-220,     223,     240,     245-6,     274,     277, 

289-291 
Worcester,    Dr.,    14,    34,    196 

Yale    College,    29,    186,    239 

Young,    Brigham,    32 

Young,    John,    27,    76,    201-2,    240 


